Ashraf El Attal

Egypt is the world’s largest buyer of wheat as well as the largest buyer of Russian Wheat. According to Ashraf Al Attal who is a former president of the Grain and Feed Trade Association, both countries rely on each other and this cooperation will continue provided that Russia is producing enough wheat.

According to the recent figures released by the Egyptian agricultural ministry, the country imported 12 million tonnes of wheat in the year 2017. No other country in the world imports this much quantity of the wheat from any wheat supplying nations across the globe.

Egyptian wheat buying is on the rising because its population is on the rising but its agricultural methods are still primitive.

To cut the dependency on imported wheat, agricultural ministry in Egypt recently said that the country is set to produce 8.1 million metric tonnes of wheat in 2018.

Garrett Baldwin, a business journalist who writes mostly on issues related to the agricultural industry wrote a blog in October 2017. In his write-up, he raised a question ‘can the U.S. become a major importer of wheat to Egypt?

Since the cost of Russian wheat per metric tonne is less by about $15 to $20 than the US wheat, according to Baldwin, this difference in cost matters for a nation which imports millions of tonnes of wheat in a fiscal.

“Russia has very good quality wheat and always up to the international standards. I don’t see a reason Russia would attempt to stop the wheat trade with Egypt. Egypt is its largest customer in the international market. Nevertheless, there are other alternatives in the black sea or the Americas,” said Ashraf Al Attal.

“This year, Russia became the largest wheat exporter in the world with an estimated export volume of 36 MMT” Attal added.

According to Ashraf ElAttal, the rising inflation, economic uncertainty, and public anger are factors that indicate, Egypt will continue to import wheat from Russia.

Egypt buys corn, beef, and soybeans from the US but what don’t features on this import list because of its higher cost than Russian wheat.

On the other hand, the United Kingdom is also making efforts to import wheat from Egypt.

UK wheat is not popular in the Egyptian Market but the United Kingdom is constantly making efforts to start wheat trade with Egypt.

The United Kingdom produces more wheat than its requirements and exports 80 per cent of it to the European Nation.