Egypt’s official grain buyer began selling yellow maize on the country’s newly created commodities market on Thursday, according to exchange chief Ibrahim Ashmawy in a statement issued on Saturday.
Egypt’s state buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), began offering unusual maize bids early this year in an attempt to alleviate a feed problem that had harmed small farmers and even forced some farmers to slaughter chicks.
Supply Minister Ali Moselhy said that the maize will be exchanged for local producers.
Egypt, a major importer of basic commodities, has been hit by a foreign currency crisis that has caused the pound to fall over 50% against the dollar, restricted imports, and drove official headline inflation to 31.9% in February, the highest level in five and a half years.
In March, Egypt’s annual urban consumer inflation rate rose to 32.7% year on year, barely short of an all-time high.
GASC has similarly provided wheat to struggling mills via the exchange, selling over 570,000 tonnes since the market’s inception in November, according to the statement.
