Egypt's main wheat-buying agency, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), set a tender on Wednesday to buy an unspecified amount of wheat from global suppliers for shipment August 21-31. It was the group's second international tender since February and the first since the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi on July 3.
The tender also comes amid a deep economic and financial crisis that has drained Egypt's foreign currency reserves, making it difficult to maintain imports of food and fuel. The country usually buys around 10 million tonnes of wheat annually from international markets and uses a mixture of domestic and imported wheat.