Afghanistan to buy Russian wheat due to risk of disruption of supplies from Iran

Afghanistan is in talks with Russia to import certain food products as the conflict between Israel and Iran, one of the country’s largest trading partners, risks cutting off supplies, Afghan Agriculture Minister Ataullah Omari told Reuters.

“Afghanistan certainly wants to be self-sufficient in its agricultural products. However, we still depend on some food products coming from Iran, and if there are problems there, it will certainly have consequences,” Omari said.

Russia and Kazakhstan are the main suppliers of wheat and flour to Afghanistan. Russia also supplies sugar and vegetable oil. According to Omari, the country now wants to buy Russian wheat, not flour.

“We have asked Russia to supply us with wheat instead of flour. In addition, imports of other products that come to our country from Russia every year are going well,” he added.

Afghanistan became the largest buyer of Russian flour in 2024, while increasing its own wheat production by 10% last year to 4.83 million tons. The country’s total wheat consumption is estimated at 6.8 million tons per year.

“For the past four years, after the withdrawal of the Americans, we have been making efforts to independently provide ourselves with basic food products. The rest, including flour and wheat, is supplied annually by Russia,” Omari said.

Tags: Russia, wheat, Afghanistan