CAIRO, Jul 29 (Aswat Masriya) – Egypt’s total reserves of wheat are sufficient until early February 2017, said Supply Ministry on Friday.

Citing a statement by the ministry, state-run MENA news agency reported that the wheat reserves are enough to provide subsidized flour to about 26,000 local bakeries across Egypt, which produce about 230 million loaves of bread daily.

The General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) said it purchased 120,000 tons of Russian and Romanian wheat through the third global tender in the new fiscal year's budget.

GASC procures strategic commodities for the Egyptian state, the world's largest importer of wheat.  

The wheat was purchased at a price of $177.17 a tonne, said GASC.

GASC bought nearly 5 million tons of local wheat during the harvest season which ended mid-June.