Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi convened a high-level meeting on Saturday to assess the state of Egypt’s food security system, with a focus on maintaining stable supplies of essential commodities and shielding domestic markets from ongoing regional disruptions.
The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Supply and Internal Trade Minister Sherif Farouk, Agriculture Minister Alaa Farouk, and Bahaa El-Ghannam, head of the Future of Egypt Sustainable Development Authority.
According to presidential spokesman Mohamed El-Shenawy, discussions centered on ensuring adequate production and distribution of strategic goods, including wheat, rice, sugar, oil, pasta, and meat. The aim is to maintain secure reserves over extended periods, helping stabilize prices and balance markets amid supply chain disruptions linked to ongoing regional tensions.
Officials confirmed that Egypt’s current stockpiles of essential commodities remain at “highly reassuring levels,” providing a buffer against global supply shocks and ensuring continued availability in local markets.
The meeting also reviewed developments related to the subsidized bread system and the performance of bakeries nationwide, alongside updates on the ration card program. Additionally, officials assessed the role of the National Food Safety Authority in monitoring the quality of food products available to consumers.
On the agricultural front, preparations for the upcoming domestic wheat procurement season were discussed. Authorities are targeting the collection of approximately five million tons during the current harvest, as part of efforts to narrow Egypt’s import gap and strengthen strategic reserves. The procurement season is set to run from April 15 through August 15, with the government raising the purchase price to 2,500 Egyptian pounds per erdab and ensuring prompt payments to farmers to support market stability.
The discussions also covered developments in Egypt’s poultry sector and measures to address rising food prices. In this context, plans to further develop the commodity exchange were reviewed, with a focus on enhancing transparency in pricing, curbing monopolistic practices, and providing fair and organized marketing channels for small farmers and producers.
Officials also examined steps to improve governance in the distribution of subsidized agricultural fertilizers, including reducing reliance on nitrogen-based fertilizers and expanding the use of modern technology in production and distribution systems to prevent manipulation and ensure equitable allocation.
President El-Sisi emphasized the need for a unified national strategy aimed at maximizing available resources, improving service quality, and enhancing market efficiency while maintaining a balance between production and consumption.
He further stressed the importance of deploying all available tools to control prices and prevent speculation, while directing the government to expand partnerships with the private sector, attract foreign investment in retail and supply chains, and boost agricultural productivity. The president also underscored the importance of sustaining and strengthening strategic reserves and advancing toward greater self-sufficiency in agricultural, livestock, fishery, and poultry production.
