Egypt is moving forward with plans to establish a grain hub in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) in cooperation with Russian companies, aiming to position itself as a global center for grain trade, exchange, and storage.
Russian company Polaris has already begun taking practical steps toward participating in the project, dispatching a technical delegation to one of the logistics zones to assess available infrastructure and investment opportunities in the Egyptian market, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Sherif Farouk said Tuesday.
The move follows remarks by Russian President Vladimir Putin during an April meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, in which he said Russia would help Cairo secure its grain needs, establish a grain and energy hub in Egypt, and expand bilateral cooperation.
The government is counting on the project to strengthen Egypt’s position as a regional center for food commodity trade, capitalizing on its strategic geographic location, extensive port network, and logistics infrastructure in the SCZone, as well as its growing role as one of the region’s largest grain importers.
Russia remains Egypt’s dominant wheat supplier by a wide margin. Exports to the Egyptian market reached approximately 8.3 million tons during the 2024–2025 season, compared with just 2.1 million tons from Ukraine, according to international grain trade data.
Egypt increased wheat purchases in recent months amid concerns over potential volatility in global markets, particularly following the US-Israeli war on Iran and the resulting fears of disruptions to supply chains, alongside rising shipping and energy costs.
The government has also stepped up efforts to strengthen food security since 2022, affected by the Russia-Ukraine war’s significant disruptions in global grain markets pushing prices higher, which in turn has pressured Egypt’s subsidized bread program covering nearly 70 million people.
This season, the government increased the price it pays farmers for wheat to 2,500 Egyptian pounds (around $48) per ardeb, up from 2,350 pounds ($45) last year, to encourage higher deliveries to state procurement. It also set aside 69.1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) to pay farmers and aims to buy 5 million tons of the local harvest this year, compared with about 4 million tons last year.
At the end of 2024, Egypt transferred responsibility for importing grain and other strategic commodities from the General Authority for Supply Commodities to the Sovereign Fund for Sustainable Development to centralize imports and strengthen supply security.
More recently, it expanded the agency’s powers, requiring prior approval for rice exports and directing that foreign currency earnings be transferred to the Central Bank, according to a letter reviewed by Al Manassa.
