Egypt won’t be tapping the international wheat market with new tenders before the middle of May after having received all its backlogged orders of Russian wheat, Supply Minister Ali El Moselhy said Thursday, Bloomberg and Reuters report. The government is focusing for now on the local harvest, which begins at the start of April, through which it expects to procure between 5 mn and 6 mn tons of wheat, the minister told Bloomberg.

The suspension of further international wheat tenders comes as the war in Ukraine roiled global wheat markets. Egypt’s last international wheat purchase was in mid-February after the conflict forced state grain buyer GASC to cancel two tenders due to high prices and a dearth of offers. This has pushed authorities to ramp up its local wheat buying and issue both incentives and punitive measures to maximize production and boost farmers’ wheat sales to the government. Prior to the conflict, around 80% of Egypt’s wheat imports came from Ukraine and Russia.

Argentina talks to start this week: Egypt will hold talks on wheat imports with the Argentinian government this week, El Moselhy said, as the Madbouly government goes in search of alternative suppliers. Egypt has already held talks with the US and France, he said.

Fertilizer for wheat? Egypt is also looking into a potential barter agreement with Romania that would see us trade fertilizer for Romanian wheat, the minister said.

Kazakhstan wants to set up a logistics zone at Ain Sokhna port that would be used to ship its grains and other foods to Africa, Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Egypt said yesterday in a meeting with Agriculture Minister El Sayed El Quseir, according to a ministry statement.