Egypt isn’t planning to hedge wheat imports in ’24-25

Egypt is not planning to carry out a hedging policy against wheat imports in the new financial year 2024-2025, because of the recent decrease in prices, its Supply minister Ali Moselhy said on Sunday.
“Current wheat prices have decreased to levels nearing those before Covid-19 and the war between Russia and Ukraine,” Minister Moselhy told Bloomberg in an interview.
Egypt, one of the world’s top wheat importers, has hinted numerous times in recent years that it planned to start hedging the grain in order to protect itself against price rises. The North African country uses the grain it buys to provide heavily subsidised bread to more than 60 million Egyptians, or nearly two thirds of the population.
Egypt’s stockpiles are sufficient for 4.2 months, with the country importing between 6.5 million tons and 7 million tons of wheat per year, the minister added.
In a separate note, Minister Moselhy said the country’s vegetable oil inventories are sufficient for 5.1 months and sugar stockpiles for 5.4 months.