MOSCOW: Russia plans to boost grain exports to Egypt, the biggest wheat importer, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia, the third-largest wheat exporter, shipped 4 million tonnes of the cereal to the North African country last year, or 40% of consumption, Putin said Aug. 26 after talks with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in Moscow, Russia.
Exports of grains, which may include crops other than wheat, will rise to as much as 7 million tonnes a year, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, said in an interview with Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper earlier this month.
The presidents also discussed potential Russian participation in the construction of grain infrastructure in Egypt, Putin said.
Egyptian producers are benefiting from Russia’s retaliatory ban on certain food imports from the E.U. and the U.S., shipping more than 8% more food to Russia in the first half of 2015 than a year earlier, according to Putin.
