Egypt's sugar reserves sufficient for three months - cabinet

Friday 02-12-2016 12:19 PM

A man carries subsidized sugar after buying it from a government truck, during a sugar shortage in retail stores across the country, in Cairo, Egypt, October 14, 2016. Picture taken October 14, 2016. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

CAIRO, Dec 2 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt's supply ministry has sugar reserves enough for three months and wheat reserves sufficient for four months, said a statement by the cabinet on Thursday.

The cabinet said that it aims to have reserves of basic commodities sufficient for six months.

In recent months, severe sugar shortages hit the Egyptian market prompting talk of a crisis and pushing the state to rapidly increase imports despite an acute dollar shortage and soaring global prices of the sweetener.

Egypt consumes about 3.2 million tonnes of sugar annually but produces just over 2 million tonnes leaving a gap of slightly over a million tonnes a year for imports.

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