CAIRO, EGYPT — Egypt’s wheat imports in marketing year 2023-24 are forecast to increase by 3%, to 10.8 million tonnes, but would still rank below the 10-year average, according to a Global Agricultural Information Network report from the Foreign Agricultural Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The country is estimated to import 10.5 million tonnes of wheat in 2022-23, the lowest level in eight years due mainly to the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine, which the USDA said, “generated an ongoing foreign currency challenge, causing disruption for Egypt’s wheat trade.”

The report said Egypt’s wheat production is projected to remain unchanged at 9.8 million tonnes in 2023-24. This presents a challenge for Egypt, perennially the world’s largest wheat importer, as wheat consumption is forecast to increase by 2% to 20.5 million tonnes in the coming year, according to the USDA.

It said much of the increase in demand is due to population growth. The country has a population of 104 million, which is expected to reach 124 million by 2030, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). Egypt is also host to an estimated 10 million migrants from Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Sudan.