Posted on 08/08/2019 10:20:22 AM PDT by NorseViking
Saudi Arabia will relax its bug-damage specifications for wheat imports from its next tender onwards, it told Reuters on Thursday, opening the door to Black Sea imports and strengthening ties with Russia beyond energy cooperation.
Russia has long sought access to Saudi Arabia's wheat market as Moscow tries to take further market share in Middle Eastern and North African wheat markets from the European Union and United .
Wheat from the Black Sea did not previously meet Saudi specifications for zero-pest damage, but the governor of state grain buyer SAGO, Ahmad al-Fares, told Reuters that the specifications will be relaxed to 0.5% from the next tender.
Saudi Arabia had been one of the last Middle East markets not dominated by Black Sea wheat and Euronext wheat futures fell in opening trade after the news, but later steadied as Chicago prices turned higher.
The change has wider implications as Riyadh, which regards the United States as its most important ally, moves closer to Moscow, with Russian President Vladimir Putin due to visit SA in October.
Cooperation has been boosted by recent OPEC and non-OPEC oil output deals, which have become an additional stimulus for wheat talks, a Russian official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.
Russia, which has lobbied heavily for the wheat specifications to be relaxed, is interpreting the change as a green light to go ahead and start supplies, he added.
"This could be a game changer, and is moving the goal posts for German and Baltic States wheat markets. Without this exclusivity, German and Baltics wheat will have to price themselves into other markets, probably targeting Algeria," European trader said.
Algeria effectively precludes wheat of Black Sea origins due to a low bug-damage requirement, while Iraq mainly sources its wheat from Australia, the US and Canada.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
if only they would boost ties with welcome for baby fur seal pelts
They don’t hunt the babies anymore and those babies are very dangerous
i know, it’s about high time we brought it back- j/k
Funny how the left are so pro post birth abortion, yet so against baby seal harvesting-
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