CAIRO, June 4 (Aswat Masriya) – Egypt’s government received about 4.7 million tonnes of wheat from local farmers since the beginning of the harvest season in mid-April, the agriculture ministry said on Saturday.

Citing the Agriculture Minister Essam Fayed, state-run MENA reported that the supply operations are still ongoing, adding that there is no accumulation of supply in wheat reserve centers.

The government previously said that it is planning to buy only four million tonnes of wheat this season at a fixed price of EGP 420 per ardeb (150 kg) of wheat after abandoning plans to pay farmers global rates for their crop.

The spokesman of the agriculture ministry, Eid Hawash said last week, however, that the government is committed to receiving all the wheat supplied by local framers.

He added that the ministry will stop receiving wheat supplies only when local producers stop supplying.

The total wheat planted area is about 3.439 million acres this season. The wheat harvest season began in April and runs through July.  

Last year, the ministry of supply bought about 5.3 million tonnes of the grain from farmers.