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Egypt to import 120,000 tonnes of Russian wheat before export duty introduced

Russia’s government said the duty on wheat exports would amount to 15% of the customs cost plus 7.5 euro, but not less than 35 euro per tonne from February 1, 2015

Archive ITAR-TASS/Vladimir Smirnov

Archive

© ITAR-TASS/Vladimir Smirnov

CAIRO, December 26. /TASS/. Russia will provide 120,000 tonnes of wheat supplies to Egypt before a duty on grain exports takes effect on February 1, Vice Chairman of the Arab republic’s General Authority for Supply Commodities /GASC/ Mamdouh Abdel Fattah said on Saturday.

The volume will be bought up in a span of ten days starting from January 21, or until the export duty is introduced.

Fattah said that in January Egypt was due to import a total of 180,000 tonnes of wheat from Russia and “the suppliers have vowed to fulfill conditions of the sealed contracts.”

Russia’s is the third largest supplier of grain to Egypt, satisfying 26.3% /765,000 tonnes of grain/ of the import demands over the past six months.

France ranks first in wheat exports to Egypt with 36% /one million tonnes/ over the same period followed by Romania - 26.8% /780,000 tonnes/.

Cairo has bought a total of 2.9 million tonnes of grain over the six months.

Earlier, Cairo announced that restrictions on grain exports imposed by Russia were not going to pose any risks to Egypt as it had strategic reserves which would last till mid-April 2015. Besides, by that time local farmers are expected to provide about 3.6 million tonnes.

Russia’s government said the duty on wheat exports would amount to 15% of the customs cost plus 7.5 euro, but not less than 35 euro per tonne from February 1, 2015.

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