Russia in talks on grain hub near Suez Canal
Egypt and Russia are in talks on creating an international logistics hub for grain in the Suez Canal region, news website Marsal Qatar reported on Tuesday.
The facility, linking to one of the world’s busiest waterways, would be used to store Russian wheat and distribute it to nearby countries.
On February 15, the Egyptian trade ministry said it had held “a number of meetings with the Russian side on the matter,” with Moscow’s representatives agreeing to study the project.
Last year, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said his country was expecting to ramp up grain purchases from Russia, citing it as a priority in bilateral relations.
The article cited Nour Nada, head of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly office in Egypt, as saying Cairo is the world’s largest importer of wheat, buying 12 million tons a year, and that Russia accounts for about 80% of that total.
In July-September last year – the first three months of the 2023-2024 crop season – Cairo purchased 2 million tons of wheat from Russia. According to the Russian trade mission in Egypt, the North African nation contracted a further 1 million tons of imports in December.
During a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 20, Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev reported that Moscow had successfully delivered 200,000 tons of wheat to six low-income African nations, free of charge, making it the biggest humanitarian initiative ever conducted by Russia.
