(NDAgConnection.com) – The price of wheat and flour used to make unsubsidised bread has spiked in Egypt as importers struggle to pay for wheat stuck at ports amid a dollar shortage, traders and the country’s chamber of cereals told Reuters this week.

According to Reuters, about 700,000 tonnes of wheat haven’t been released from customs, causing around 80% of mills producing commercially sold bread, pasta, and other goods to “cease activity completely”, according to a Sept. 26 letter from the Federation of Egyptian Industries’ Chamber of Cereals to the supply minister.

While global wheat prices have fallen to their levels before Russia-Ukraine war, prices in Egypt have risen due to depleting stocks, said Hussein Boudy, the chamber’s deputy head.

Egypt’s importers can no longer replenish their wheat stocks amid a dollar shortage caused by a rising import bill and decreasing tourism revenues from two of its largest markets – Ukraine and Russia. Loss of confidence in the Egyptian pound by investors also contributed to the shortage.