The closure of U.S. Wheat Associates’ office in Cairo will not affect Egypt’s wheat imports, the Supply Ministry’s media advisor Mohamed Sweed said Monday.
U.S. Wheat Associates, a trade group that promotes U.S. exports, announced week earlier a decision to close its Cairo office in December, citing the loss of market share of U.S. wheat in Egypt.
Egypt’s strategic wheat reserves is ‘safe’ and sufficient to last until mid-March, Sweed further told Amwal Al Ghad.
Egypt made its latest purchase of U.S. wheat almost one year ago, the Egyptian official said.
“Egypt imports wheat at international tenders on economic and competitive bases, and politics has nothing to do with it,” Sweed said.
The U.S. group said in its statement that Egypt had turned to Russia and other suppliers in the Black Sea region. As a result, the Russian wheat production has soared in recent years, and higher freight costs by about $17 a tonne have made U.S. wheat less competitive compared to Russian supplies.
The North African country has been sourcing most of its wheat in recent years from Russia, which was projected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to harvest a record-large crop this year of 82 million tonnes.
As recently as the 2012/13 marketing year, Egypt was the No. 5 market for U.S. wheat overall and the No. 2 buyer of U.S. soft red winter (SRW) wheat, grown in the southern Midwest.
By the time the 2016/17 marketing year ended on June 1, Egypt had fallen in rankings to the No. 37 buyer for U.S. wheat overall, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Associates (USW) is the export market development organisation for the U.S. wheat industry with funding from 17 state wheat commissions and USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.
USW President Vince Peterson said in a statement that the organisation saw a need to begin adjusting its activities in the Middle East and North Africa several years ago as the supply of significantly lower priced wheat from Russia increased.
“The organisation eliminated a Cairo-based marketing position in 2014. This allowed USW to add an experienced technical specialist in its Casablanca, Morocco, office. In 2016, USW shifted regional management for the Middle East operations to its office in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.” the USW statement added.
