Egypt expects to reduce imports of yellow corn to 7 million tons during 2017-18 financial year from 8.5 million tons last year due to the growth of local production, said agriculture Minister Abdel Abdul al-Banna on Wednesday.

Egypt is trying to reduce its dependence on imports once in recent years, the shortage of foreign exchange began to discourage foreign purchases and interfere with economic growth of the country.

BANNO said that Egypt will offer to the farmers double the price per ton of corn in this financial year 3 400 Egyptian pounds (190,48 dollars) compared to approximately 1,700 last year.

Egypt in the past year, let the national currency float freely, causing the Egyptian pound has depreciated by approximately two times, pushing inflation to over 30 percent.

It is expected that the higher the purchase price will trigger a rise in acreage of corn approximately 500,000 fedunov (210 000 hectares) and reaches about 1.25 million fedunov (525 000 hectares), said bathing. ($ 1 = 17,8500 Egyptian pounds).

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