Russia signs bumper grain deal with Middle Eastern state

Syria has struck a major grain import deal with Russia, the Middle Eastern country’s agriculture minister, Mohammed Hassan Qatana, told RIA Novosti earlier this week.

According to the official, the Arab Republic will buy 1.4 million tons of crops as Damascus seeks to expand trade ties with Moscow.   

Qatana noted that the amount secured under the contract would be enough to cover Syria’s grain demand for an entire year.   

He stressed that Syria had already received large volumes of Russian wheat and that deliveries were going “smoothly.”

The deal comes as Russia is expected to reap its second-largest harvest on record this year, following a bumper crop in the previous agricultural season, according to official estimates.

The Russian Agriculture Ministry has upgraded its grain harvest forecast for 2023 to 135 million tons in net weight, including 90 million tons of wheat.

Russia has become the world’s biggest exporter of grain in recent years due to record harvests and attractive pricing, which have helped it quadruple its share on the global market since the early 2000s.