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News & Current Events May 5, 2026 at 1:58 PM

Egypt continues to receive Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia

Posted by No_Idea_Account

Egypt continues to receive Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia
Ukrainska Pravda
Egypt continues to receive Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia
Ukraine has recorded a fourth case of Russia laundering stolen Ukrainian grain through Egyptian ports since April.
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twinsea May 5, 2026 +425
Crazy how Egypt has gone from the breadbasket of the classical world to being a heavy importer.
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Khamvom May 5, 2026 +250
Yup. Ancient Egypt had a population of 2-10~ million. The land along the Nile River is basically the only farmable lands in Egypt, so not a lot of space but it’s extremely fertile and produced more than enough to feed Egyptians and export to places like Rome, Greece, etc. Modern Egypt (1900’s) the population exploded to 40-50~ million, and reached 100+ million by the 2000’s. Just way too many people to feed and not enough farmland.
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Noughmad May 5, 2026 +84
Yes, but I'm pretty sure they modern day crops and farming practices are at least 10 times more effective than 2000 years ago.
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Khamvom May 5, 2026 +70
Definitely. However Egypt is 95% desert, even with modern farming practices, it’s just not enough to feed 100+ million people using only 3-4% of the land.
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asgjmlsswjtamtbamtb May 6, 2026 +20
Egypt frankly isn't trying to be food self sufficient. It actually uses a lot of it's land to produce exports foods like citrus, tomatoes and other fruits/ vegetables and cotton production. I guess the theory they go by is they can make more money producing that stuff and just buy the grain than just produce staples. Egypt can serve European markets with stuff they either can't grow or grow year round that's seasonal in Europe.
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Dingcock May 6, 2026 +4
Fertile land that can support commercial fruit and vegetable agriculture is extremely valuable. You don't plant wheat, or corn, or soybeans into that type of soil. It's too valuable to not use for fruit/veg. The profit margins are so much higher. In the same way, you wouldn't go take a 1,000 acre wheat field and plant strawberries because you just don't produce enough strawberries to turn a profit compared to the amount of labour that goes into it. Harvest and planting of wheat and other grains are much more automated with farm machinery so it's fine if you don't have a great yield if your expenses are low, but fruit/veg requires a ton of manual labour which means they need a good harvest to turn a profit. Essentially, it's not surprising that individual farms are choosing to plant fruit and veg to turn a higher profit instead of more more grain that would feed more people.
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Noughmad May 5, 2026 -22
Was that not the case 2000 ago as well? Did the climate change so much?
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protostar71 May 5, 2026 +46
As was previously said, the population did. Agricultural advances can only go so far.
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mhornberger May 6, 2026 +2
> Agricultural advances can only go so far. They can be extended yet further, but it's not c****. Greenhouses reduce water use by 90% or more. You can use hydroponics or other [CEA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled-environment_agriculture) methods to increase yield quite a lot. But though prices *are* coming down (which is why CEA is so much more widespread than it used to be), it can't compete on price with conventional farming. And certainly not with stolen grain. My favorite agricultural topic is the use of hydrogenotrophs to produce carbohydrates. So you can pull CO2 from the air, use molecular hydrogen, and with electricity create analogues of flour and plant oils, with no need for arable land and with much less water. NASA was experimenting with this back in the 1960s. [Solar Foods](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Foods) is one company working on it today, but they need several more rounds of scaling to produce any significant volume.
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protostar71 May 6, 2026 +1
God I love when someone who knows more than me expands on a comment. The hydroponics setup Ive seen for a lettuce farm was seriously impressive, and was only viable because it was on a remote island with limited growing space and expensive imports. It also got pesticide dropped on it by a police helicopter thinking it was a weed op but unrelated. The cost benefit at scale just isnt there yet. Egypts a great example because instead of going that route they are instead dumping billions into (scientifically dubious) desert land reclamation. https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/a-new-delta-in-the-desert-153752/
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Khamvom May 5, 2026 +18
The population was way smaller 2000 years ago (2-5~ million), and even tho they didn’t have modern farming and produced way less than Egypt does today, it was still more than enough to feed themselves and export. Climate change and urbanization are forsure factors, but it’s more on the massive population growth.
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horatiowilliams May 6, 2026 +3
It was also before settler-colonialism. Egyptians from that time are the ancestors of the Coptic indigenous minority.
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StickyWhiteStuf May 6, 2026 +2
Egyptians are pretty overwhelmingly, well, Egyptian, as far as genetics or whatever metric you want to use go. Way too populated to have been replaced by settlers, so they’re almost all descendants of Copts who culturally assimilated. Plus post-conquest Egypt has still been a food exporter for the overwhelming majority of its history as an Arab region. The actual issue is exactly what the people above you are saying: Egypt only became an importer around the 60s mainly due to government policy and population growth + the resulting urbanization of former agricultural lands. The nile legitimately just isn’t enough at this point.
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Left-Night-1125 May 5, 2026 +7
The climate has been changing alot all the time, couple 100 years ago it was alot colder for a period but around the Romsnd and Viking age it was warmer as well just like its now.
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Dingcock May 6, 2026 +1
Is your question why was the population not 100m 2000 years ago ? The answer is they couldn't feed that many people, just like today.
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Noughmad May 6, 2026 +1
No, the population was about 1/10 of today, but I'm assuming that modern farming accounts for a similar increase in farm productivity. Either my assumption is wrong, the population was even smaller back then, or there is something else in play that causes a reduction in fertile land (maybe the lack of floods?). I don't know, but would like to.
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Dingcock 6 days ago +2
I don't think there's been a 10x increase in wheat yeilds. Not sure what yields were like 2000 years ago, but for wheat they've just about doubled since the 1960s. I doubt that 5x gains in yeild between happened -40bc and 1960, that then 2x from 1961-2025. They manage and control the flooding on the Nile more than ever so in theory it should be a lot more stable but I don't know of that increases or decreases the arable acres.
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RarelyReadReplies May 6, 2026 +3
Unless they're maximizing yields at the cost of soil quality, leading to a catastrophe in the making. This happens all over the world, short term thinking, maximizing profits. I don't know if Egypt is like this or not, but it is a well known issue with modern farming. Smart countries have learned better though by now.
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CucumberWisdom May 5, 2026 +11
Climate change bb
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ksheep May 5, 2026 +48
One of the reasons the land along the Nile was so fertile was due to the annual flooding of the river, which deposited nutrient-rich silt. Ever since the Aswan High Dam finished construction in 1970, the annual floods have basically ceased.
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Jamuro May 5, 2026 +138
this year so far the eu paid over a billion in subsidies to egypt with another 5 billion planed next year ... it's not like the eu has no soft power here. just has to be willing to use it too.
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Happy-Interaction466 May 6, 2026 +6
Europeans are scared of egypt collapsing because of illegal immigration, egypt have 120 million people
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yogevBroker May 5, 2026 +97
Would the EU offer new sanctions on Egypt now?
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[deleted] May 6, 2026 +26
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Dear_Virus1260 May 6, 2026 +2
Unilateral sanctions are (probably) illegal. So why not embrace the colonial mindset if you are going to use coercion to get your way?
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Grazziellone May 6, 2026 +3
It's basically impossible to sanction Egypt since they control the Suez Canal
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ZuAusHierDa May 5, 2026 -51
Why? Israel is our ally, Egypt isn’t. It was absolutely not acceptable for Israel to accept this stolen grain. Egypt … well. We don’t hold them to the same standards.
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RottenPeasent May 5, 2026 +53
So you don't care countries buy stolen grain? The EU could stop Egypt from supporting Russia in this manner, but they choose not to because... why? Why not hold them accountable?
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ZuAusHierDa May 5, 2026 -29
I don’t get Israel. They want to be European, part of UEFA and Eurovision. European countries have to behave to a higher standard then the rest. If Israel wants to be judged by non European standards then ok, but then they should communicate that.
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GammaDie345 May 6, 2026 +19
They're in European associations because they're not allowed in the MENA ones. Even before the war, because jews. Also, the European Broadcast Region (which qualifies you for eurovision) includes several african and MENA countries, not just israel
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RottenPeasent May 5, 2026 +25
I am not talking about Israel. I am talking about Egypt. I don't get why you don't want to hold them accountable if you care about the stolen grain. The EU could easily stop them. Do they not care about the actual grain that was stolen?
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ZuAusHierDa May 5, 2026 -21
Poor countries have to eat something. Egypt is poor. I don’t judge them the same as I judge a European country. It’s absolutely bad, but it’s less bad if you are poor.
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yogevBroker May 6, 2026 +10
Oh boy, you missed some classes. Egypt used to be richer and is older than most of the countries. Food is the last thing they are missing.
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-HealingNoises- May 5, 2026 +13
Things have gotten to the point that I don't think it's possible for (relative to the past) peaceful and stable human society on a global scale to exist without countries being willing to actually punch each other in the face for breaking the rules. There are too many who will take advantage of the fear of war do just do what they want, buy from those waging war, buy stolen goods, I don't know where we go from here.
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Dear_Virus1260 May 6, 2026 +1
What made you reach that conclusion? Compare EU vs ASEAN or Europe vs how most countries in East or South East Asia deal with conflict. Despite bigger racial, cultural, religious and political differences.
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RottenPeasent May 5, 2026 +174
Waiting for the EU to sanction Egypt like they threatened Israel. Any minute now, surely.
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ArchitectNebulous May 5, 2026 +67
They won't.
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ZuAusHierDa May 5, 2026 -38
We are not allied with Egypt. We are allied with Israel.
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OneWheelTank May 5, 2026 +63
Egypt has received several billion dollars in aid from the EU over the last couple years. How much has the EU given to Israel in that time?
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Raph115 May 5, 2026 -19
The hell does Israel need aid from the EU for? It gets enough handouts from the USA already
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ZuAusHierDa May 5, 2026 -17
It depends. I’m German. And Israel’s security is our „reason of state“.
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RealPersonResponds May 5, 2026 +54
Why does Egypt support War Criminals and terrorism? Shame
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Relative_Rip1080 4 days ago +1
lol is this shit still going in the west?
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hextreme2007 May 6, 2026 -18
Should they let their people starve?
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Traditional_Cry8075 May 5, 2026 +65
Add it to the list of shitty things about Egypt
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Grazziellone May 5, 2026 +37
Egypt is on the brink of becoming a failed state, they have massive debt, low reserves of foreign currency and they import almost 90% of their wheat. I'm pretty sure they don't care where their grain comes from as long as it's c****, and I don't blame them
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imnotamahimahi May 6, 2026 +1
source on that first part?
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Grazziellone May 6, 2026 +2
I looked into it and I have to say that Egypt has been doing better and the situation has improved since a couple of years ago. For example, foregn currency reserves have almost doubled to 53B USD. Still, external debt is at 150B USD, interest on debt is around 65% of yearly budget, they spent almost 60B USD on a new capital with low positive impact on the wider economy. Additionally, the money they received is mostly from selling land and state companies to arab states, which they can't do forever. So even tho they're doing better now economically, I don't think they create the conditions for long term prosperity
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imnotamahimahi May 6, 2026 +1
again, do you have a link to where you read this?
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Aidircot May 5, 2026 +8
punishment is just around the corner
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macross1984 May 5, 2026 +4
I wonder how much Egypt paid for stolen goods from Ukraine. 
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BanForLife1 May 5, 2026 +3
Countries and goverments just not care about moral.Just everybody for themselfs and their intrets.I have no doubt if egypt woud have a border with ukraine they woud care more.But who gives a sh*t than you are far away.This world is so depressing some times.
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WavyGravy04 May 5, 2026 -4
If Egypt had a border next to Ukraine they would probably have fertile land to grow their own crops Instead they live in a desert and have a very large population to feed It sucks what Russia is doing but people starving is pretty shitty too
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Independent-Stop7846 May 5, 2026 -7
I think they will starve without it so I'm gonna say: sucks but it is what it is However, the Egyptian government is super corrupt and should be blamed for the country's serious deterioration.
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DaySecure7642 May 5, 2026 -2
What is wrong with the countries today? Transactionalism?
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Dear_Virus1260 May 6, 2026 +1
It’s mostly Ukrainian farmers selling the stuff, but while under Russian occupation. Let’s say you stop buying “stolen” grain, all the Ukrainian farmers in occupied territory go bankrupt and then what?
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