Paris–An unusually large volume of French wheat is being shipped to private millers in Egypt as an alternative to Russian wheat amid a ban on grain exports by a drought-stricken Russia, French traders said on Monday.
About 250,000 tons of French wheat have been loaded or are due to be loaded this month for Egypt, including three panamax ships at the northern French port of Dunkirk, they said.
France is a regular supplier of Egypt's state wheat buyer GASC but French sales to private Egyptian operators are usually minimal.
The cargoes destined for private millers were in addition to a series of purchases by GASC this month as the authority turns away from Black Sea origins.
Traders also said that the loading of one of the cargoes bought by GASC had been brought forward from 1-15 Sept., with the ship already in loading at Bordeaux.
