Egypt may sign a new wheat import contract with Ukraine – official

Ukraine and Egypt are expected to sign a new grain agreement as the old contract, which Kiev shall have supplied 240,000 tons of wheat to Cairo, will be terminated, Interfax quoted a Ukraine senior official as saying on Monday.

“Indeed, a contract was signed. Indeed, Ukraine was unable to fulfil it in due time because of the blocking of ports. It happened so that the deal lacked a force majeure clause.” Mykhailo Nepran, vice president of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said

“If the clause had been there, they would have come to the Chamber, we would have issued a certificate, and that would have been used to postpone the contract fulfillment without penalties,”

Nepran said he had received the information of signing a new agreement from Ukrainian Ambassador to Egypt Mykola Nahornyi and grain traders.

“As our ambassador to Egypt Nahornyi told me, the Egyptian side formally assured him they were absolutely not stopping cooperation with Ukraine, they understood the port blocking situation, and Egypt was ready to keep working with Ukraine and buying its grain,” he said.

Signed late 2021, the old contract was for the delivery of 240,000 tons of wheat and was scheduled for March-April 2022. The grain prices have changed a lot since then, which will also be mentioned in the new contract, Nepran added.

“Our grain traders told me they were glad that happened, because the price stood at roughly $250 per ton when the agreement was signed in December of last year. The price has practically tripled by now.

“So, it became even more profitable for them from the economic point of view: there will be a different price in the new contract,”