Russia and Egypt intend to create a free logistic zone for grain storage

From the beginning of 2021 to December 12, Egypt purchased 5.4 million tons of Russian wheat totaling to $1.5 billion.

Russia and Egypt are planning to create a free logistic zone for grain storage, according to the country's Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade, following negotiations in Cairo between Minister Ali al-Muselhi the Russian delegation headed by Russian Deputy Minister of Agriculture Sergei Levin.

According to the official department representative Ahmed Kamal, the negotiations in Cairo we devoted to the issue of creating a free logistic zone for wheat storage in Egypt. “At the initial stage, Egyptian elevators will be able to accept up to 1 million tons of grain per year,” he said. The parties discussed the possibility of creating a joint company for the grain trade. Moreover, the issue of partnership in the field of creating tanks for edible oil storage was raised.

Egypt is the largest importer of wheat in the world and the leader in the list of Russian grain purchasing countries.

According to the Federal Customs Service, available to the Center for Agroanalytics, from the beginning of 2021 to December 12, Egypt purchased 5.4 million tons of Russian wheat totaling to $1.5 billion (7.3 million tons were purchased for the same period of the last year for $1.6 billion). Wheat was supplied mainly from the Rostov Region and the Krasnodar Territory. The volume of wheat shipments to this country from the shallow water ports of the Rostov region amounted to 3.1 million tons totaling to $0.8 billion, and shipments from the deep water ports of the Krasnodar Territory amounted to 1.2 million tons totaling to $0.3 billion. Under the conditions of export duties, Russian grain was a worthy competitor to Ukrainian and Romanian wheat for Egyptian GASC tenders (GASC is the state company for grain purchase operations), periodically pushing cut-price competitor aside.

In general, Egypt is one of Russia's key partners in the global agricultural market, the Russian Ministry of Agriculture notes. We can observe a positive dynamics of trade volumes between countries: over the eleven months of the current year, this indicator increased by 5% and exceeded $2 billion. Promising export destinations also include supplies of domestic poultry, beef, fish and dairy products.
Source: specagro.ru