The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks international prices of a basket of widely traded food commodities, averaged 128.5 points in March, up 2.4% from a revised February level, according to the agency.

The increase reflects upward pressure in global food markets, though the FAO did not specify individual commodity drivers in its summary release.

In a separate report, the FAO slightly raised its forecast for global cereal production in 2025 to a record 3.036 billion metric tons, representing a 5.8% increase compared with the previous year.The updated outlook suggests improved supply prospects for staple crops, even as price trends point to continued volatility in international food markets.

According to Ajit Gupte, the Indian ambassador to Cairo, New Delhi plans to increase the wheat exports to Egypt early next year due to both rising domestic demand and a projected 5 percent decline in wheat production rates in India in 2022.

According to Gupte, Indian companies have made a total of $3.2 billion investments in Egypt, and many of them plan to boost their investments there in the near future.

Abdel Moneim Khalil, the head of the Internal Trade Sector at the Ministry of Supply, stated at the end of July that Egypt intended to raise the agricultural area cultivated with wheat to 7.5 million feddans in 2023.

In a telephone interview with the “Red Line” program on the al-Hadath satellite channel, Khalil stated that Egypt is seeing a significant increase in the import of the wheat crop by roughly four million tons.

Wheat Shortages

Since the Russia’s war against Ukraine, Egypt, the world’s top importer of wheat, has seen severe supply disruptions.

Egypt reached India to fill the gap.

In order to increase the strategic reserve of wheat, the government emphasized in March the regularity of the supply chain of imported wheat purchased from various origins.

Egypt imports wheat from France, Romania, and Russia, according to Aly al-Meselhy, minister of supply and internal trade.