Beni Suef (bĕ'- swāf) or Bani Suwayf (bä'nē), city (1986 pop. 152,476), capital of Beni Suef governorate, N central Egypt, on the Nile River. Situated in an intensely cultivated farming region, Beni Suef has cotton mills and sugar refineries. Alabaster is quarried near the city.