IKAR in Mass Media

Egypt's Appetite for Russian Grains Seen Persisting in Turmoil

04 июля 2013 года

July 4 (Bloomberg) -- Egypt's grain buying from Russia will continue even as the North African country, the biggest wheat importer, is gripped by political turmoil, according to Moscow-based agricultural researchers SovEcon and Ikar.

Egypt may purchase as much as 9 million metric tons of grain in the 2013-14 season, said AndreySizov Jr., managing director at SovEcon. Russian shipments may be 3 million to 4 million tons of Egypt's total, said Dmitry Rylko, director of the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies, also known as Ikar. Russia sold about 3 million tons to Egypt last season, according to SovEcon data.

"Egypt's imports will be stable because the country's domestic grain production is insufficient and any leader understands that he needs to feed people," Sizov said today by phone in Moscow.

Egypt's military ousted Mohamed Mursi, the nation's first democratically elected civilian president, and called early elections yesterday following a campaign of street protests aimed at Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood Islamist group. The country's economic difficulties may intensify and its ability to pay for imports may be further impaired, according to SovEcon. The authorities may downgrade quality requirements at tenders to spur competition in search of cheaper wheat prices, Sizov said.

Egypt accounted for a quarter of Russia's wheat exports last season and about 35 percent in 2011-12, according to Sizov. The share may decrease in 2013-14 if Egypt, the most populous nation in the Arab world, switches to cheaper supplies from Ukraine and Kazakhstan, he said. Egypt may account for as little as 19 percent of Russia's total wheat exports this season, according to Ikar's Rylko.

Egypt may import 9 million tons of wheat in 2013-14, compared with 8.5 million tons in 2012-13, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics.

Source: Bloomberg | #grain | Comments: 0 Views: 62

There are no comments yet. Be the first!

Only authorized users can comment.