Wheat consumption in Egypt has decreased from 10.2 million tons in 2013-2014 to 8.3 million in 2014-2015, Supply Minister Khaled Hanafy said Monday.

He credited a new bread system applied in the country for the 23 percent drop.

Talking facts and figures, the minister told a press conference held at the Ministry's HQ, that wheat exports went down to 4.6 million tons in 2014-2015 from 6.4 million the year before, noting this is about a 40-percent decline.

Local wheat remained relatively stable registering a limited decrease by 100,000 tons this year from 3.8 million tons in 2013-2014, Hanafy added.

He made it clear that the new bread system is meant to reduce food subsidy in the state budget.

Food subsidy went down from 37 billion pounds when the new system was first implemented 10 years ago to 27.3 billion pounds this year, Hanafy noted.
Source: MENA