why Egypt imported maize

As Table 8.8 also shows, the area on which maize was cultivated increased
slightly from 1952 to 2000/01, while the area on which rice was cultivated
increased more than threefold. In the same span of time the per acre yields
of maize tripled, while those of rice almost doubled. The total production of
maize more than tripled and that of rice increased more than tenfold during
the same period. In 1998/99 Egypt exported 350,000 tons of rice (Ministry of
Information 2000: 114). The value of rice exports in 2000 was about US$94
million (CAPMAS 2001b: 279). Thus rice became the country’s second-largest
agricultural export commodity after cotton. However, Egypt could only export
such great amounts of rice by importing cheap lower-quality rice from South-
East Asia to cover local demand. As already mentioned, the maize harvested
in Egypt plays an important role in the production of bread, but it is also
used as animal feed. This explains why Egypt imported maize costing US$500
million in 2000 (CAPMAS 2001b: 280), but was self-sufficient in the maize
required for its population’s food. The overall degree of self-sufficiency in
maize was 56.6 per cent in 2000/01.