CAIRO- Egypt has planted about 1 million feddans (420,000 hectares) of a total 3.5 million feddans with wheat so far this year, an Agriculture Ministry official said on Sunday.

The planting season began on Nov. 15 and is due to last until the end of this month, Abbas al-Shennawi, head of the ministry's services and follow-up sector, told Reuters.

Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer, harvested 8.5 million tonnes of domestic wheat from around 3.16 million feddans last season.

(Reporting by Momen Saeed Atallah; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Edmund Blair) ((Aidan.Lewis@tr.com; +20-1001174410;))