CAIRO, EGYPT — An increase in the harvested area is expected to boost Egypt’s wheat production to 9 million tonnes in the 2021-22 marketing year, according to a report from the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The total harvested area is estimated at 1.4 million hectares, which compared with 1.39 million hectares in the previous year.  

Imports for the 2021-22 marketing year are estimated at 13.2 million tonnes, up 1.53% from the previous year.

FAS Cairo forecasts Egypt’s wheat consumption in 2021-22 at 21.3 million tonnes, up by almost 2.4% from 2020-21. The increase is attributed to the increase in food, seed and industrial use.

Egypt currently has more than 410 public, public/private, and private sector mills with total investments of more than $1.5 billion. Public mills and public/private mills produce 82% extraction flour, which is used for making the subsidized Baladi bread, the FAS said.

The private sector mills that produce 82% extraction flour for the bread subsidy program are not allowed to produce the 72% extraction flour produced by other private sector mills, which is used in the production of pastries and other types of bread.

The FAS forecasts corn production 6.4 million tonnes, unchanged from the previous year. Planted area is also unchanged at 800,000 hectares.

Egypt’s total corn consumption is estimated at 16.9 million tonnes, up 1.2% from a year ago.

Imports are estimated at 10.3 million tonnes, unchanged from 2020-21. Egypt’s yellow corn production covers less than 35% of its feed demand needs and imports supplement the feed manufacturing industry’s current production, the FAS said.