CAIRO - Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly held a meeting on Monday to assess the country's wheat procurement efforts, without the participation of Egypt’s primary state grain buyer, a cabinet statement on Monday showed.

Among the attendees, however, was Brigadier General Bahaa El-Ghannam, Executive Director of the Mostakbal Misr Agency for Sustainable Development, which has recently emerged as a player in Egypt’s wheat procurement landscape and was seen as “sidelining” the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC).

The meeting follows Mostakbal Misr's decision to refrain from purchases during its wheat and vegetable oil procurement inquiry last Thursday. The agency’s direct purchasing strategy, introduced late Wednesday, is a shift from the traditional tendering system managed by GASC.

During the meeting, El-Ghannam outlined efforts to "diversify wheat sources and expand local cultivation," according to the cabinet statement.

Traders, however, remain wary of the transparency and execution of Mostakbal Misr’s direct purchasing model, especially after last Thursday’s unexpected price inquiry.

Established in 2022 through a presidential decree and operating under the supervision of the Egyptian Air Force, Mostakbal Misr has rapidly transitioned from land reclamation projects to a broader role encompassing commodity procurement.

(Reporting by Momen Saeed Atallah and Mohamed Ezz, Editing by Louise Heavens)