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GENEVA, Nov 17 (Reuters) – Russia sold about 250,000 tonnes of wheat in the latest Algerian tender, Yulya Korolyova, the head of Russia’s state grain quality service, told a conference in Geneva on Wednesday, confirming earlier estimates by traders.
Russia, the world’s largest wheat exporter, has been lobbying for access to the Algerian market, traditionally dominated by France, for years. Algeria relaxed its insect damage limit in late 2020 allowing a small number of Russian shipments in recent months.
“This is an important market and we hope it will continue to increase,” Korolyova told the conference, adding that Saudi Arabia and Jordan were also seen by Moscow as promising markets for its wheat.
Algeria is set to take a substantial amount of Russian wheat in an import purchase of between 700,000 and 800,000 tonnes, after the country changed tender terms to reduce its reliance on French supplies, European traders said earlier on Wednesday.
Terms for the latest tender showed the bug damage limit had been increased further, to a 1% maximum from 0.5% previously, raising expectations of more offers of Russian wheat.
“Russian is a supplier, finally,” Oleg Kryukovsky, head of trading at GTCS firm, told the same conference, referring to the Algerian tender and recent supplies to Saudi Arabia.
“If there is demand for good quality wheat, Russian wheat will be there,” he added.
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; writing by Polina Devitt; editing by David Evans)
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