Egypt to pay more for wheat, may plant in Sudan

Posted 07 April 2008 @ 03:37 am EET     Print     Reprint     E-Mail     Comments

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt promised its farmers above international prices for this season's wheat and proposed to grow wheat in Sudan to meet the needs of Egyptian consumers, state news agency MENA said on Sunday.

The government said it would pay farmers between 380 and 390 pounds per ardebb (150 kg) for this year's season, which runs between April and July, MENA said.

The price is equivalent to about $472 per tonne, MENA quoted Minister of Social Security Ali Musailhi as saying.

Wheat, the world's most exported grain, has hit record highs due to drought, rising food demand and increased use of grains for environmentally friendly biofuels.

Egypt's main state wheat buyer, General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), said last week it could buy up to 3.5 million tonnes of wheat from local farmers this season, almost double what it bought last year.

Separately on Sunday, MENA said that Sudan is studying an Egyptian proposal to grow wheat in the country.

"The Sudanese government welcomed the Egyptian proposal calling for the cultivation of swathes of Sudanese land with wheat, and has formed committees to look into this proposal," MENA quoted Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Osman Ismail as saying.

He added Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf Arab countries had made a similar proposal and said that "committees have started work in delineating the requested lands for this project".

"Water is plentiful, the land is very fertile and modern technology can help not just to reach a level of self-sufficiency for Egypt and Sudan but for the Arab region as a whole," Ismail said.

Higher global wheat prices in recent months have squeezed wheat-importing countries such as Egypt, the most populous Arab country.

Egypt is one of the world's biggest wheat importers, typically buying more than 6 million tonnes of overseas wheat a year to make subsidised bread, mostly for the urban poor.