IKAR in Mass and Industry Media

Russia to lift restrictions on potato imports from Egypt

Reuters

MOSCOW, April 24 (Reuters) - Russia plans to remove temporary restrictions on potato imports from Egypt on April 25, Russia's animal and plant health watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement on Tuesday.

Restrictions, which were imposed from June 3, 2011, will be removed after Moscow accepted Egyptian guarantees that potatoes that were supplied to the Russian market were safe for consumption, it added.

During a catastrophic 2010 drought, Russia bought potatoes from Egypt. But now Moscow is more interested in selling grain to Egypt, a source familiar with the issue told Reuters.

Russia is poised to become the world's No. 2 wheat exporter after the U.S. this year, while Egypt is the world's largest wheat importer.

The Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, the main deep water Russian port, has concluded existing wheat supply contracts to Egypt's main government wheat buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), in early April.

Removal of restrictions on potato imports will not help Russian grain to strengthen its position on the Egyptian market as it is still more expensive than U.S. origin wheat, a Russian analyst told Reuters.

Prices for Russian wheat with a 12.5 percent protein content declined to $269 per tonne last week on a free-on-board basis (FOB) in the port of Novorossiisk, according to the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR).

Egypt's GASC bought U.S. soft red winter wheat on a FOB basis in early April at $259.75 per tonne with freight costs of $24-26 per tonne.

24.04.12

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