Imports of yellow corn into Egypt amount to about 1.8 million tons. in 1993 (see Table 7). This corn is utilized as an important ingredient of poultry and animal feed and for starch production. The PBDAC serves since 1986 as the principal importer of corn. At the ports of Port Said, PBDAC contracts the off-loading of vessels with the private sector operators and a public sector stevedoring company. At Alexandria, the services of the General Company of Silos and Storage, a parastatal under the Ministry of Supply, is used by the PBDAC. This company can handle corn and wheat in bulk.But, PBDAC is not equipped to distribute the grains in bulk. Most of the imported corn is bagged in 100 kg jute bags at the ports, and hauled by trucks to the shounas, mills or processing plants throughout Egypt. Only a small portion of the total quantity is handled in bulk. Therefore, excessive costs occurred by the grain importers and feed producers due to:

• ocean freight charges from slow off-loading,
• losses of grain and grain quality,
• use of jute bags,
• slow loading and unloading of bag trucks,
• ocean freight charges for small vessels,
• larger labour requirements for handling bagged product,
• lack of flexibility and control of distribution,
• production disruption due to the lack of dependable supply.

It is important to know, that the cost of imported corn is a critical factor in the production of poultry, beef, and dairy products.

The quantities of grains and pulses imported into Egypt during the period from 1984-1993 are summarized in Table (7). The quantity of imported wheat during 1992/93 is about 5.1 million tons, and the USA is the main supplier. The amounts of lentils and beans imported into Egypt increased markedly from 1991 to 1993 and amounts to 36.000 and 55.000 tons, for lentils and beans, respectively.

Imports of commodities in million LE.during1988/1993:

Data indicate that the average value for wheat, wheat flour, and corn import during

1988/1993 was 1559.7, 382.8, and 505.3 million Egyptian pounds, respectively.

Consumer price index of agriculture crops in Egypt:

It is obvious, that the consumer price index of the agricultural crops was markedly increased during the period from 1987 to 1993 by 208.6%

Farm-gate and retail prices of grain: