Comparing Egypt and Saudi Arabia’s Wheat GVC

April 2, 2014

Danny Hamrick | Ghada Ahmed | Andrew Guinn | Ajmal Abdulsamad | Annelies Goger | Jack Daly | Jonathan Morgan | Gary Gereffi

Wheat is one of the most important commodities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the region is the largest importer of wheat and other grains. While there are many challenges in terms of securing stable wheat supplies, like storage capacity and water reserves, sub-regional differences exist in the organization of the wheat industry and subsequent challenges. This brief sheds light on these differences through a comparison of Egyptian and Saudi Arabian wheat value chains. We conclude that while many issues, such as availability of currency reserves, span the region, other issues are country or sub-region specific. Ghada, Dayne, and Gary presented "Shifting Governance Structures in the Wheat Value Chain: Implications for Food Security in MENA" at the GVCs and Trade Policies for Food and Nutrition Security workshop at Roma Tre University in Rome, Italy on September 26, 2014.