Two more wheat ships headed for Egypt are facing delays in Russia

Two vessels carrying wheat purchased by Egypt’s state grain buyer are facing delays in Russia, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, amid a dispute that caused other delays in the past month.

Wadi Tiba and Edfu, both loaded with around 60,000 metric tons of wheat purchased by the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), have been stuck for weeks in Russian ports, the sources said.

One source told Reuters that the ships have been facing delays despite being inspected and approved for shipment by Egypt’s agricultural quarantine.

The source added that both Egypt’s supply and foreign ministries have sent complaints about the delays.

A dispute between Russian trader RIF, which supplied the wheat to GASC through agent Grainflower, and federal authorities has caused delays in the shipment of hundreds of thousands of grain to importers, the owner of TD RIF Petr Khodykin told Reuters last month.

Two other vessels destined for GASC had also faced delays in March and April but were subsequently shipped and had received phyto-sanitary certificates from Russian authorities.

Egypt is one of the world’s biggest wheat importers and uses the purchases to make heavily subsidised bread, a politically sensitive benefit available to tens of millions of Egyptians.

Egypt’s supply ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tags: Russia, Egypt, wheat