We’re looking for more funding from the UAE to fund wheat imports: Egypt is in talks with an unnamed Emirati bank to finance wheat purchases from Kazakhstan, Reuters reports, citing three traders it says have knowledge of the matter. The value and terms of the loan as well as the amount and price of the wheat purchase it would cover are yet to be determined, the sources said.

A lower-priced alternative to Russian grain? Kazakhstan could provide a better-priced option after Moscow reportedly int ervened to st op at least one recent purchase of Russian wheat by state grain buyer GASC on grounds that the pricing undercut an unofficial price floor.

Shipping could prove a problem: Traders are quoted as telling Reuters any purchase of Kazakh wheat could be logistically challenging since delivering the wheat from the landlocked Central Asian country would require sending it overland through other countries.

This wouldn’t be the first time the UAE finances our wheat: The potential transaction would be the second Emirati-funded wheat purchase after Egypt signed a USD 500 mn agreement with the Abu Dhabi Exports Office in August to purchase wheat from Emirati agribusiness Al Dahra.

Remember: Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, has received funding from international lenders to purchase grain since the Russia-Ukraine war disrupted the global food markets, which helped trigger a prolonged FX crunch in Egypt and sent wheat prices soaring. Aside from the ADEX loan, the World Bank, the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation and others have together provided bns of USD in loans for wheat imports.

Meanwhile, we’re getting a Ukrainian wheat shipment soon: Ukraine has dispatched a grain shipment from the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk to Egypt on Friday, loading nearly 18k ton of wheat, Reuters and Bloomberg write, citing the Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov’s post on X. This is the second major grain shipment leaving the Ukrainian port after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain pact in July; the wheat is traveling through a temporary maritime corridor that runs parallel to the Romanian and Bulgarian coasts.

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