US banks on Egypt to regain dominance in wheat exports
The US is banking on Egypt to regain dominance in wheat exports: Egypt’s purchase of 115k tonnes of wheat from the US last week may have upended the global wheat market, allowing the US to displace Russia and world’s biggest exporter, write Isis Almeida and Megan Durisin for Bloomberg. This is reportedly the first time in three years the US nabbed the top spot. The irony of the situation is that a probe into alleged ties between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia could have tipped the balance in favour of US sellers: The scandal has put pressure on the USD, making American wheat exports so affordable that Egypt took notice. Eyes will be on Egypt to determine whether the US will remain the top exporter. “Last week’s tender was kind of a watershed event," a grains analyst tells Bloomberg. “I don’t know if Egypt’s going to be coming back consistently, but if they do and if the U.S. is included in the next tender, it should tell the market that we’re here to stay.”