Egypt’s new state grain buyer, the military-run Future of Egypt Authority, revealed to Reuters Monday it had purchased about 500,000 metric tons of imported wheat in recent weeks, with shipments expected to arrive later this year.
The bulk of the wheat—around 200,000 tons—was sourced from Russia, while the remainder is split between Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania, according to the report.
Earlier in June, the authority imported around one million tons of wheat from various origins, including Russia and France, according to two traders who spoke to Al Manassa.
The move came despite earlier assurances by Supply Minister Sherif Farouk and a senior official from the Federation of Egyptian Industries that Egypt had a strategic wheat reserve sufficient for over six months. In 2024, Farouk declared that the uptick in wheat imports is intended to cover the country's annual consumption rate of 20 million tons.
The procurement follows a presidential decree last November which assigned the Future of Egypt Authority—an independent subsidiary of the Egyptian military—the responsibility for grain and commodity imports.
The newly minted authority took over the role previously held by the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), a public body mandated to disclose procurement deals, for more than 50 years. The Future of Egypt Authority now oversees purchases through both direct deals and international tenders with approved suppliers.
The last publicly disclosed deal by the authority came in August, when it secured 200,000 tons of French wheat through private contracts, in addition to smaller shipments of 30,000 tons each from Ukraine and Romania.
The Future of Egypt Authority first appeared in May 2022, when President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi inaugurated the Future of Egypt agricultural megaproject. Located off the Rod El-Farag–Dabaa axis about 30 minutes from the 6th of October City, the project is part of a plan to reclaim 800,000 feddans in the New Delta under the authority.
