The consequences of the cooling of diplomatic relations between Algeria and France are beginning to be felt on the economic level. Indeed, Algeria has diversified its suppliers in durum wheat. France is no longer its exclusive supplier. The cereal sector in France is severely impacted by this change of course in Algeria.
Thus, as announced by specialized news sites, Algeria buys its wheat in different countries. She placed an order for a large shipment of wheat from the Algerian Interprofessional Cereals Office (OAIC) from several suppliers. France is not one of them. It is not among the suppliers selected after the receipt of offers in response to the call issued by the CATO and concluded just four days ago.
For this order, with an estimated volume of between 690,000 and 700,000 tonnes, it must be delivered in three shipments between January 16 and February 28, 2022, Algeria’s traditional supplier is absent. According to the consulting firm Agritel, the countries selected for this order are Germany, the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, and even Argentina. These are the countries that responded to the requirements of the Algerian tender, with a price varying between 372 and 376 dollars/tonne.
Algeria forced to source wheat in Europe
It is a hard blow for the French cereal sector, which once again loses its positions in Algeria. Algeria’s wheat supplies have become inevitable due to insufficient rains which led to a 38% reduction in production for the 2021-2022 campaign, forcing the country to source wheat mainly from Europe “where Germany is in the process of making a place to the detriment of France”, as noted, a few weeks ago, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in a report where it was also indicated that” for the first time for five years, after the modifications of the specificities which it imposes for the wheat to be imported, Algeria recently bought wheat from Russia”.
This report, which dates two months from the American administration, affirmed that Algeria would have to import 8 million tonnes of wheat for the needs of the 2021-2022 campaign. He had described Algeria as being “the biggest customer of Germany due to quality problems with French wheat” while highlighting the return of Russia to the Algerian market.
