Egyptian wheat purchases from the US may fall 23% next year even as total imports may increase, the USDA said Mon (May 10).

Egypt, the world's biggest wheat buyer, may purchase 500,000 tonnes from the US in the year that starts on July 1, down from 650,000 tonnes in the prior year, the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service said in a report.

US, the largest wheat exporter, shipped about 1.68 million tonnes to Egypt in the year that started July 1, 2008, the USDA said.

The North African country will buy 9.2 million tonnes of wheat from all sources in the year that ends on June 30, 2010, up from nine million tonnes a year earlier, according to agency data.