BEIRUT, Aug 15 (Reuters) – Syria’s state grain agency, the General Organisation for Cereal Processing and Trade (Hoboob), said on Monday it was seeking one million tonnes of soft wheat from Russia.
The deadline for bids is Aug. 24 and the origin of the wheat must be from Russian companies, a tender document faxed to Reuters by Hoboob said.
Offers were sought on a cost and freight basis, according to the document.
The import announcement comes amid the local wheat purchasing season, which started in June.
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Hoboob last tendered for 150,000 tonnes of soft wheat, also from Russia, with a deadline for bids of Aug. 3.
Before that it tendered for 200,000 tonnes of soft wheat with a deadline for bids of July 18. It wanted wheat of Russian, Romanian or Bulgarian origin, with preference for Russian wheat.
Russia has supported Syrian President Bashar al Assad since September last year in the country’s conflict which has raged for more than five years. The Russian intervention turned the tide in Assad’s favour.
Hoboob tenders have previously been open to offers from more than one origin.
A German trader said: “This is a huge tender and confirms (the) belief that Syria has a large import requirement this season.”
“It is interesting that the business is being restricted to the close ally Russia so it looks like a political connection cannot be ruled out. Russia has a big grain harvest and also wants the business,” the trader said.
The government is yet to give a crop estimate for this year but the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) told Reuters in April the wheat planted area was smaller.
The area of land sown with wheat and barley for the 2015-16 season stood at 2.16 million hectares, down from 2.38 million the previous season, the FAO said.
That was also down from 3.125 million in 2010, before the country’s civil war, and represented around two-thirds of the area targeted by the government.
