Bloomberg: Egypt books nearly half a million tonnes of wheat from Russia

The Egyptian government has signed a supply agreement with a state-backed trader in Russia.

This is reported by Bloomberg. 

Egypt is one of the largest wheat buyers in the world, and the deal represents about 480,000 tonnes or about 4% of its annual imports. According to the trader, its state importer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities, has booked grain for November and December shipment.

Last month, Bloomberg reported that the country was in talks to buy 1 million tonnes of wheat from Russia in a government-to-government deal. 

Earlier, four traders told Reuters that Egypt had purchased almost half a million tonnes of grain from Russia in a private deal.

The General Authority for the Supply Commodities (GASC) bought approximately 480,000 tonnes of wheat from Solaris at a price of $270 per tonne. 

It will be recalled that in July 2023, Egypt's Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, Ali El-Mosilhy, criticised Russia's withdrawal from the Black Sea Initiative and said that Egypt would continue to import Ukrainian grain despite this.