CAIRO, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) — A groundbreaking ceremony was held Sunday for building a strategic food warehouse project in southern Egypt’s Luxor Governorate.

Egyptian Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali al-Moselhy attended the ceremony, witnessing the warehouse’s foundation stone being laid, the ministry said in a statement.

This was the second to start construction among seven strategic food warehouses planned across the country, following the one in the Suez Governorate in June. It would serve Luxor and some neighboring governorates, according to the ministry.

Al-Moselhy said that the warehouse would be built on an area of 10 acres, with an investment of approximately 1.5 billion Egyptian pounds (48.52 million U.S. dollars).

The warehouses were established and would be operated according to international technical specifications to reach Egypt’s sustainable development goals, the minister said.

Al-Moselhy added that the project would increase the commodity stock of products throughout the year and bring about a significant leap in the internal trade system.

Egypt, the most populous Arab country, has suffered from global grain supply interruption brought by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.