US Tycoon: Use Your Loaf, Egypt

It was Marie Antionette who once said let them eat cake - well now a US business tycoon could soon have Egyptians scoffing some of the best loaf on the planet.

Philip Blumberg, head of Blumberg Capital, has launched the tasty new venture after successive politicians failed to solve the riddle of lowering bread prices despite the relatively high cost of purchasing grain, thanks to the country's poor credit rating.

He said: "Egypt is the largest importer of wheat in the world, but they have to buy it on the spot market. It's crazy. The largest wheat buyer in the world is constrained by storage."

Blumberg has now reached a deal with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to build 164 grain-storage facilities designed to prevent spoilage, reduce price volatility and eventually lead to a local commodities exchange.

Early indications suggest the government hopes to have the 164 storage units ready to replace traditional storage barns before the end of the harvest next April.

In addition, Blumberg has agreed to invest $250 million in a factory in Egypt to manufacture storage bins, employing 1,000 people in a project KPMG estimates will have a $1 billion impact on the Egyptian economy in the first year.

Egypt's Minister of Supplies is expected to visit the Chicago Mercantile Exchange this summer to learn how a commodities exchange is operated.