Egypt's government has directed state grains buyer GASC to import 80,000 tonnes of rice "immediately" ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, the cabinet said in a statement on Friday.

Egypt produced 3.75 million tonnes of rice in the 2015 season and held over 700,000 tonnes from 2014. Annual rice consumption is generally about 3.3 million tonnes.

But the government's failure to stock up earlier in the season has left it at the mercy of traders, some of whom have been unwilling to sell to the state and are choosing to stockpile instead.

The stockpiling has pushed up the price the government pays for rice by about 50 per cent in recent months.

GASC has tried three times to hold rice import tenders, but has had to cancel each one either because of low responses or due to prices being deemed too high.

The government has threatened to seek direct contracts to buy rice from abroad if prices offered by traders at its tenders are not reduced but traders say Egypt is insisting on unrealistic prices.

Egypt banned rice exports on April 4 to preserve stocks for the local market and to combat the rising prices.

The government lifted a previous export ban on the crop in October due to an expected surplus and imposed an export tariff of 2,000 Egyptian pounds ($225.2) a tonne, but that decision expired on April 3.

The government statement said Egypt had enough sugar stockpiled to last until the end of the year and enough vegetable oil for the next three months. More vegetable oil would be imported as needed, it said. - Reuters