31 Jan 2023 18:26

Egypt intends to buy more wheat from Russia, working on system to pay in rubles

MOSCOW. Jan 31 (Interfax) - Egypt, which one of the largest importers of Russian wheat, intends to buy more of it, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told a press conference in Moscow after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"The supply of wheat is one of the key areas of our relations, Russia is one of the key suppliers to the Egyptian market. We are now satisfied with the level of interaction achieved and we are committed not just at keeping the current supply rates, but at further increasing it, and also at expanding the nomenclature," Shoukry said.

"We are committed to continue working with our partners in this direction," he said, adding that the issue had been discussed in detail during the talks.

Responding to a question about the prospects of the use of settlements in local currencies, in particular, in rubles, Shoukry said trade relations between the two countries have a long history and "we have been working for a long time on relevant mechanisms that will enable us to use them [local currencies] in our trade operations in the spirit of greater sovereignty." "It will facilitate trade operations. We intend to increase the volumes of transactions in these currencies. We are now only at the initial stage, we will hold a series of consultations on this issue, but we intend to continue the work," he said.

According to information published on the Telegram channel of the Russian Union of Grain Exporters, Egypt signed contracts for the supply from Russia of 5.06 million tonnes of wheat in the first seven months of this agricultural year (which began on July 1, 2022), of which 4.55 million tonnes has already been supplied. Almost the same amount of wheat, 5.04 million tonnes, was exported to Egypt last agricultural year.

According to the Russian Grain Union, Egypt bought almost 870,000 tonnes of wheat in January, which is 2.3 times more than a year ago.