MOSCOW: Russia will supply around 600,000 tonnes of wheat to Venezuela in the current marketing year ending next June, Russia’s agriculture minister told Reuters, deepening the Kremlin’s support for Venezuela’s troubled economy. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro agreed a grain supply deal in May, providing a lifeline to the South American country which has faced soaring bread prices in recent years and queuing at bakeries has become common.
Russia, which last season did not ship any wheat to Venezuela, had not previously confirmed how much wheat it planned to supply under the deal. The supplies to Venezuela will be carried out as part of commercial contracts between Russian and Venezuelan state companies, Russian Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said in an interview for the Reuters Russia Investment Summit. Pilot batches have already been sent to Venezuela, he said in written answers to Reuters’ questions. Tkachev did not provide further details. Venezuela’s unraveling socialist government is increasingly turning to ally Russia for the cash and credit it needs to survive, according to a Reuters report published last month.
Russian state-controlled grain trader United Grain Company previously said that it would supply 300,000 tonnes of grain to Venezuela in 2017/18. Agriculture is not the only sector with which Moscow has been cooperating with Caracas. Venezuela borrowed from Russia in 2011 but failed to keep up with payments on the debt in 2016. Russia wants to find a solution on how Venezuela will fulfill its debt obligations to Moscow by the end of this year, a senior Russian official said in September.
