Egypt's wheat stock ample for 4 months, imports resumed

Egypt has wheat amounts that would be enough until November of the current year, the newly-appointed minister of supply said in a press conference on Thursday. Mohamed Abu Shadi –formerly senior interior ministry official responsible for investigating supply crimes –added that his ministry would increase wheat imports in an attempt to optimise the current stock that stands at 3.3 million tonnes. Earlier in July, ousted president Mohamed Morsi's minister of supplies Bassem Ouda told Reuters that Egypt has less than two months' supply of imported wheat left in its stocks, signalling that a shortage is more acute than previously revealed. The Egyptian government has imported 300,000 tonnes of wheat from Ukraine, Romania and Russia. Shipments will arrive between 21 and 31 August, state news agency MENA reported on Thursday. Abu Shadi said halting wheat imports since February was one of the previous government’s main mistakes. The new minister will be charge of distributing subsidised bread, other food products and fuel. His biggest challenge will be ending the chronicle fuel shortages that have plagued Egypt since 2008, but have become more acute since the revolution. "My first priority is to make sure that supplies of basic commodities like wheat are within the safe limits," Abu Shadi told Ahram Online on Tuesday. He vowed to open a public discussion about subsidised bread that includes producers, distributors and consumers.