CAIRO: The Egyptian government has announced it will begin importing a total of 80,000 tons of rice shortly to meet an expected rising demand for the commodity during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar when Muslims fast.The decision was taken after a meeting between Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and the minister of Finance and Supply, the head of the Central Agency for Statistics and Mobilization (CAPMAS), and other aligned parastatals, government spokesperson Mohamoud Diab explained.
Egypt’s current rice stock is not sufficient to last during the Ramadan period and necessitates that the government import the required tons, Diab told a TV talk show on Saturday.
Rice is a common affair in a typical Egyptian meal, making Egypt one of the biggest rice-exporting countries in the world. In September 2014, the government imposed an export ban on rice cultivated in the country to meet local demands before the moratorium was lifted in October 2015. Again, on March 31, 2016, the export ban was reintroduced to address demands, according to Minister of Trade and Industry Tariq Kabil. Egypt has exported a total of 40,000 tons over the past six months, after producing around 4.5 million tons of rice last year.
Although its output is expected to reach 4.4 million tons this year, according to statistics from the trade ministry, the consumption rate would reach 3.6 million tons in 2016. The cost of rice in local markets has seen a hike in the past two months with a kilo of the commodity selling for 8.5 EGP ($0.96) instead of its initial 5.5 EGP ($0.62).
In a statement in early April, the Supply Ministry had attributed the hike to an unhealthy monopoly by rice dealers. To reduce the negative impacts of cultivating rice which needs a lot of water, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigations has earmarked a number of acres for the crops’ cultivation this year. Rice farmers have been told to avoid wasting water from the River Nile and rationalize its use.
