Browse Data and Analysis

Egypt’s wheat imports for marketing year (MY) 2024/25 (July – June) are estimated at 12.5 million metric tons (MMT), up by 11.4 percent from Post’s earlier estimate, due to an increase in the availability of foreign currency to facilitate imports.

On June 4, a Costa Rican court restored the Chaves administration's policy of dramatically lower tariffs on imported milled and rough rice, overturning an earlier court ruling that reversed the lower tariffs in April 2024.

FAS/Cairo (Post) forecasts Egypt’s wheat imports in marketing year (MY) 2024/25 to increase by 2 percent from the previous marketing year, due to population growth and the availability of more foreign currency in Egyptian banks.

FAS/San José anticipates Costa Rica's Ministry of Foreign Trade to allocate 2024 Dominican Republic - Central America Free Trade Agreement rice quota allocations by the end of April, effectively constraining the availability of U.S. duty-free rice to the final eight months of 2024. Though Costa Rica typically allocates quota volumes in December of the preceding year, calculations of 2024 volumes have been contested by importers following an extraordinary process resulting from a 2022 cyber attack.

Costa Rica reinstated 35 percent tariffs on non-U.S.-origin rice after an administrative court overturned an August 2022 tariff reduction and the Government’s appeal was rejected. Demand for U.S. rice has surged following the tariff restoration on reduced South American-origin rice competitiveness.

Egyptian marketing year (MY) 2023/24 wheat imports are estimated at 12.0 million metric tons (MMT), up by 6.9 percent from MY 2022/23 due to lower area and production.

U.S. rough rice exports have plummeted and the decline of Costa Rican rice production has accelerated sharply following the Government of Costa Rica’s August 2022 tariff rate reduction on imported rice from all origins.

The 2022 U.S. Agricultural Export Yearbook provides a statistical summary of U.S. agricultural commodity exports to the world during the 2022 calendar year.

FAS Cairo (Post) forecasts Egypt’s wheat imports in marketing year (MY) 2023/24 (July – June) to increase by almost 2.9 percent from the previous marketing year due to population growth.

FAS Cairo (Post) forecasts Egypt’s wheat imports in marketing year (MY) 2022/23 (July – June) at 11.0 MMT, down from the previous marketing year estimate of 11.5 MMT. Egypt was able to secure a steady supply of wheat through diversification of wheat origins whether through tenders or implementing direct purchasing of wheat from several countries.

On July 6, the Government of Costa Rica published a draft executive decree that would dramatically reduce tariffs on imported milled and rough rice. The vast majority of U.S. rice exported to Costa Rica in 2021 (valued at $25 million) entered under a duty free quota for rough rice established by the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement.

On June 30, Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) purchased 815,000 metric tons (MT) of wheat in a tender from four countries – France, Romania, Russia, and Bulgaria.