October 6, 2011

Egypt may recommence wheat purchases from Ukraine

Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) has announced that the country might resume wheat supplies from Ukraine.

The agreement was reached at a working meeting between UAC President Leonid Kozachenko, President of the Grain and Feed Trade Association (GAFTA), Alexei Gavrilov, with GASC Vice President No'omani Nasr No'omani and a member of the GASC's purchase committee, Abou Zeid Mohamed.

The UAC said that GASC agrees to put Ukraine onto a list of official suppliers if the country provides for proper quality of grain, in addition to other conditions.

The posting says that Ukraine was excluded from the list of wheat suppliers earlier as grain imported to Egypt was not in line with the quality requirements needed for production of local bread.

According to the UAC forecasts, grain exports from Ukraine in the 2011/12 marketing year would reach 24 million tonnes, in particular, 11 million tonnes of wheat, 10 million tonnes of corn and three million tonnes of barley.

The State Statistics Service of Ukraine reported that Ukraine exported 12.1 million tonnes of grain in the 2010/11 marketing year, including 1.69 million tonnes of Egypt. In particular, Ukraine exported 4.17 million tonnes of wheat (1.1 million tonnes to Egypt) and 2.79 million tonnes of barley (8,000 tonnes of Egypt).

In the 2010/11 marketing year grain exports from Ukraine to Egypt fell by 24.2%.

The UAC said that GASC is the largest buyer of grain in the world with more than 10 million tonnes, including five million tonnes of bread wheat.