Egypt plans to purchase 500,000 tons of wheat from France, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan instead of Russian grain

Egypt's state buyer is abandoning Russian grain and plans to purchase 500,000 tons of wheat from France, Bulgaria, and Kazakhstan, Bloomberg reports, citing its own sources.

The main reason is Ukraine's blockade of Russian ports in response to the constant shelling of Black Sea ports and the Russian authorities' attempts to establish an unofficial price minimum for Russian wheat.

Recall that on August 4, the Main Supply Department purchased 480,000 tons of Russian wheat from a private trader at a price of $270/ton (including freight), which turned out to be lower than the level acceptable to the Russian authorities. A few days later, it became known that the operator of the transaction would be the Swiss company Solaris, one of the main intermediaries in the Russian grain market.

According to Reuters, Egypt is also in talks with an Abu Dhabi bank to open a credit line for alternative wheat supplies from Kazakhstan.

After two years of record harvests, Russian grain ports are overflowing, making Russia the dominant player and price-setter on the global market, Bloomberg reports. However, the oversupply is putting pressure on domestic prices, so the Russian government is introducing an unofficial minimum price for its exporters to support the market.

Egypt is the world's largest wheat importer and is heavily dependent on Russian grain. Almost all purchases are carried out by the State Supply Administration. In the 2025/26 MY, Egypt increased wheat imports from the Russian Federation by 61.1% to 8.1 million tons, while total imports (according to estimates by the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and analysts, including the USDA) decreased to 12.5-12.7 million tons compared to 13.2 million tons in the 2024/25 MY. On August 2 alone, Egypt purchased 300,000 tons of Russian wheat at a price of $250/ton.