The Food Industries Holding Company has signed contracts for the import of 80,000 tonnes of Indian rice at a price of USD 350-355 per ton. The shipment will be delivered over two phases, the first before Ramadan and the second will arrive in the middle of the month, said the company’s CFO Abdul Aziz Abed. It is unclear whether this is related to the 60,000 tons of rice purchased last week. Abed added that the company was coordinating with the Federation of Egyptian Industries and government bodies to launch an initiative which would see local rice traders sell 50,000 tonnes of rice through the Supply Ministry cooperatives and outlets at a price of EGP 4,500 per ton (or EGP 4.5 per kg) before Ramadan. A rice trader speaking to Al Borsa attested that the ministry’s enforcement unit has been threatening traders with monopoly charges if they don’t comply. The ministry has begun pumping the market full of rice since Friday at EGP 4.5 per kg in effort to cut prices which have reached as high as EGP 10 per kg, said a statement by Supply Minister Khalid Hanafi. According to state-owned Al Ahram, this amounted to 40,000 tonnes as of Saturday evening.