The world’s largest importer of wheat, Egypt has backed off of an international tender to import the grain that supports the subsidized bread for millions of Egyptians.
Egypt’s General Authority for Supply Commodities cancelled on Tuesday a tender on an unspecified amount of wheat from a supplier that it did not specify, saying “high prices offered that did not match the direction of international markets.”
In the first half of 2021, Egypt’s imports of wheat fell by 9.5% to 1.41 billion dollars, while it stood at 1.56billion dollars in the first six months of 2021, according to data seen by Reuters from official statistics agency CAPMAS.
From grains, vegetable oil, and meat, food prices worldwide increased by 33% in August 2021, compared to the first six months of 2021, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
Food insecurity is particularly hitting the MENA region. In 2020, MENA’s share of the world’s acutely food insecure people was 20%, higher compared to its 6% share of the population.
Even before the pandemic, the UN estimated 55 million of the 456.7 million people in the MENA are undernourished. Among other reasons, analysts see the rise of food prices globally to be propelled by Covid-19 that’s driven disruptions in industries with global supply chains, as the effect of the pandemic on the long term begins to unfold.
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