A big wheat buy in the works from Serbia: Egypt is in talks to buy some 1 mn tons of wheat from Serbia as it works to diversify its wheat suppliers, the Supply Ministry said yesterday. Supply Minister Ali El Moselhy discussed the potential direct purchase in a meeting with a Serbian delegation headed by former president Boris Tadic yesterday.

The details: Serbia would supply us with wheat and corn of Serbian, Romanian, and Bulgarian origin, which would be transported from the Romanian Port of Constanta to either Alexandia or Damietta Port. The statement didn’t disclose a timeline or the price at which the wheat and corn will be purchased. The potential purchase came after President Abdel Fattah El Sisi last summer visited Serbia for the first time. The Egyptian and Serbian sides have scheduled further meetings to work towards an agreement.

Is this feasible? Bloomberg notes that Serbia is a relatively minor player among global wheat producers and typically exports no more than 1 mn tons of the grain each season. The country’s wheat exports this year are forecast to come in at some 600k tons, the business news service reports, citing US Department of Agriculture data.

We’ve also been gearing up for more Romanian wheat: Romania promised to increase wheat exports to Egypt during Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă’s visit to Egypt earlier this week.

REMEMBER- War in Ukraine sent international grain prices soaring last year, forcing Egypt — the world’s largest importer of wheat — to rely more on the local harvest, diversify the source of its imports, and pivot from international tenders to direct purchases on the global markets.

AND- Silo money from the EIB? The state is in talks with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to secure investment to establish a large silo in the Damietta Port with a storage capacity of 200k tons, as well as five 5-k ton silo fields in Sharkiya, Kafr El Sheikh, Dakahlia, Minya, and El Wadi El Gedid, according to the statement. El Moselhy met with EIB director Lionel Rapaille yesterday. The European lender in December approved a proposal to provide EUR 150 mn to Egypt to bolster its silo storage capacity.