Largest buyer of Russian grain named

Egypt has become Russia’s top grain importer after purchasing over two million tons in just three months, the Union of Grain Exporters announced on Friday.

From July to September, Cairo bought 2.031 million tons of grain, marking a 9.1% increase compared to the same period last year when the country imported 1.862 million tons.

“The firm position of Russian exporters in GASC [General Authority for Supply Commodities] tenders stimulated private purchases,” the Union wrote on its Telegram channel, referencing the Egyptian agency for food procurement.

Earlier this month, media reports indicated that in a departure from its traditional way of buying grain through tenders, Egypt had purchased about 500,000 tons of wheat from Russia in a private deal. 

Egypt is one of the world’s top wheat importers and its purchases are closely tracked as a global benchmark. In July and August, Egypt increased its imports of Russian wheat by 11.8% compared to the same period last year, amounting to 1.28 million tons, according to data published by the Union of Grain Exporters. 

Türkiye was Russia’s second largest grain buyer, importing 1.864 million tons (-10.3%) in July-September. Iran dropped from the top spot it took in 2022 to third place after reducing grain shipments from Russia by 24% to 1.817 million tons, data showed.

The top five Russian grain importers also included Saudi Arabia which ramped up its purchases by 61.2% to 1.664 million tons. Libya ranked fifth after its grain imports saw a drastic 178% surge year-on-year to reach 1.108 million tons compared to just 398 thousand tons in 2022.

Russia exported a total of 18.18 million tons of grain in the three months between July and September, boosting its supplies to the global markets by 61% or by 11.2 million tons compared to last year, official figures showed.

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