One of the world’s largest wheat exporters, Russia sent 28,000 tonnes of wheat to Algeria this week, the first such operation in more than four years.
The return of Russian wheat to the Algerian market took time to materialize, due to specifications unfavorable to Russian origin. The relaxation of Algerian regulations has changed the situation, in a context where Algeria is trying to diversify its suppliers.
Between scarcity and abundance, Algeria does not know how to manage its agriculture
The shipment of 28,000 tonnes could mark the start of a larger Russian presence in the Algerian wheat market, until then dominated by France, of which Algeria is the first customer outside the European Union. Moscow thus wins a round of the battle against Paris for access to the Algerian wheat market.
The Brecorder website, citing Reuters, reported on Tuesday that Russia could export up to one million tonnes of wheat to Algeria during the 2021/2022 season, threatening France’s stranglehold on the juicy Algerian market . In 2019, Algeria imported $ 2.7 billion worth of cereals, mainly soft wheat.
“Even though this is the only shipment (of Russian wheat) to Algeria this season, we are confident that we will significantly increase export volumes to the country, which is one of the top ten importers of cereals in the world, during the 2021/2022 season,” said Eduard Zernin, who heads the Russian Union of Cereal Exporters.
Franco-Russian battle for control of the Algerian market
Russian ambitions in Algeria come into play as the latter relaxed some of its specifications in its specifications last October, allowing suppliers to offer Russian wheat and other wheats from the Black Sea in the framework of calls for offers for cereals with higher protein content.
Russia was waging a long campaign to allow its exporters access to the Algerian market, one of the few large importers to which it did not have access until recently.
Market participants see Russia as a long-term threat to the stranglehold of wheat from France and other European Union countries in Algeria’s massive import program, according to Reuters.
Last September, French exporters were alarmed that the International Professional Cereals Office (OAIC) was considering modifying the conditions of its international call for tenders for the import of wheat. The modification has since been made and Russian wheat won the first round of the battle with French wheat.
The eyes of traders are now on how the Russian cargo will be received by Algeria, said the same source. A welcome that will be decisive for the future of Russian wheat on the Algerian market, especially since Algeria has just rejected a shipment of French wheat in which animal carcasses were found, which aroused the anger of the Minister of Agriculture Abdelhamid Hemdani.
Besides the modification of the technical specifications which opens the way for Russian wheat, Algeria could be tempted to make Russia one of its main suppliers of this widely consumed product. Especially since the two countries maintain strategic relations in the military field, and Algeria intends to obtain from Russia the possibility of producing the anti-Covid Sputnik V vaccine.
