The African nation is actively considering wheat imports from India and is also changing its food safety rules that could facilitate imports of agriculture produce, Osama Saleh, Minister of Investment, Egypt, said in an exclusive interaction with Business Line.
“Yes, we are definitely looking at India as an importing country for wheat. We want to have several diversified sources and not just the EU or the US or Canada,” Saleh said.
Delegation visit
The Minister is in India with a trade and investment delegation to attend the African ministers’ conclave.
Senior officials from the Commerce Department have already had consultations with the Egyptian Agriculture Minister Salah Mohamed Abdel Moamen and Supply Minister Bassem Ouda earlier this month on the issue.
India is out to woo Egypt as it is the world’s largest buyer of wheat, an estimated 11.5 million tonnes (mt) annually. India is desperate to find buyers for its wheat as the Government’s granaries are overflowing with stock - estimated at around 30.80 mt last month - and there is no room to store fresh procure. The country’s buffer requirement at 11.2 mt is almost a third of the stock.
Concessions
New Delhi has already discussed offering various concessions to Egypt including a longer credit period in order to compete with the US and Russia in the meeting earlier this month, a Commerce Department official said. While India mostly exports through international trading agencies such as Cargill, Glencore and Louis Dreyfus, it may also look at exporting on Government-to-Government basis through Central Public Sector Undertakings for Egypt.
Egypt may amend law
The Egyptian Investment Minister said that his country was working on amending its food security laws which will make it easier for wheat and meat exporters from India to meet quality norms.
“Our Food Safety Measures law is being amended. It would give more flexibility to exporters. Issues of quality control apply to both wheat and meat. So it should help exporters of both commodities,” Saleh said.
About seven million tonnes of wheat have been exported from India last year, out of which, 2.5 mt had been exported by government agencies and the rest through private traders.
The Government has recently allowed private traders to export five million tonnes increasing total exports allowed to 9.5 mt.
Surplus producer
Assuring continued supply to Egypt would not be a problem, the Commerce Department official said.
“India is a surplus producer of wheat with production now in the range of 90-95 mt a year. Since our consumption is not more than 82 mt, India could be relied on for supply of wheat on a sustained basis,” he said.
