LONDON: Egypt has said it is looking to resume wheat imports from Ukraine, the General Authority for Supply Commodities of Egypt (GASC) was quoted saying on the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation (UAC) website on Wednesday. According to the report, the new agreement was apparently reached during a meeting of UAC President Leonid Kozachenko, President of the Grain and Feed Trade Association (GAFTA), Alexei Gavrilov, with GASC Vice President No'omani Nasr Nomani and a member of the GASC's purchase committee, Abou Zeid Mohamed. The UAC said that “GASC agrees again put Ukraine onto a list of official suppliers if the country provides for proper quality of grain, in addition to other conditions.” Previously, Ukraine had been omitted from a list of potential wheat suppliers to Egypt, the world's number one importer. It cited quality requirements that had not been met for local production of bread. According to the UAC forecasts, grain exports from Ukraine in the 2011/2012 marketing year would reach 24 million tons, in particular, 11 million tons of wheat, 10 million tons of corn and three million tons of barley. The State Statistics Service of Ukraine reported that Ukraine exported 12.1 million tons of grain in the 2010/2011 marketing year, including 1.69 million tons of Egypt. In particular, the UAC said Ukraine exported 4.17 million tons of wheat (1.1 million tons to Egypt) and 2.79 million tons of barley (8,000 tons of Egypt). The UAC said that GASC is the largest buyer of grain in the world: over 10 million tons, including five million tons of bread wheat. BM
