EGYPT – Egypt is set to establish a commodity exchange management company, which will organize the process of trading various food and consumer goods between producers and traders.

This was revealed by Assistant Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, Ibrahim Ashmawy, indicating that the final touches are being put in place for both the legal and the administrative aspects of the company.

The capital of the Commodity Exchange Management Company is LE 100 million (US$6.2m), with the participation of Banque Misr, the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) , the Agricultural Bank and Commercial International Bank, Hermes, in addition to the Ministry of Supply, the Holding Company for Food Industries, the General Authority for Supply Commodities, the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and the Federation of Egyptian Industries, reports Egypt Today.

The technical specifications of the strategic warehouses and stores have been completed and are being presented to major developers.

The investment cost for establishing these giant warehouses is LE 3 billion (US$188m) for each strategic warehouse, with a total cost estimated at LE 21 billion (US$1.3bn) for 7 warehouses.

In addition to that, the selection of the locations of these strategic warehouses for the commodity exchange is done according to technical specifications.

The most important of which is to be near the main network of hubs and sea and dry ports to ensure easy access to the packing warehouses and set them up on a geographical scale that guarantees better, faster and more efficient coverage of goods and their supplies at the level of the country.

Last year, Egypt announced the establishment of the commodity exchange to be in October 2019, but the process was delayed.

Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali Al-Moselhi, emphasized that the existence of approved warehouses is indispensable for the start of the commodity exchange project, explaining that it organizes supply and demand processes and through which the owner of the commodity or the farmer can advertise his products.

Sudan permits Egypt to cultivate its land for edible oil production

In other related news, Sudan has agreed, in principle, to let Egypt exploit its agricultural lands to grow sunflowers, soybeans and corn for the benefit of the Holding Company for Food Industries, which would contribute to providing edible oils to the Egyptian market and limit import.

This came during the Egyptian Minister of Supply Ali Al-Moselhi’s meeting, with Sudan’s Director-General of Sudan’s Military Industry Corporation Mirghani Idris and his accompanying delegation, as well as representatives of the Sudanese Etisalat Company.

According to a statement issued by the Egyptian Ministry of Supply, it was agreed to develop this strategic partnership for the benefit of the two countries in the field of meat system and commodity exchange.

The statement pointed out that the Sudanese side would contribute to developing the meat distribution outlets of the Holding Company, as well as establishing factories belonging to the Meat Company of the Holding Company to make factories, to offer products on the local market and open markets to other countries through Egypt.

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