Saudi Arabia to import wheat from Saudi farms abroad for delivery later this year

Saudi Arabia’s state grain buyer SAGO said on Monday it has agreed to import 355,000 tonnes of wheat at an average price of $330.04 per tonne from Saudi Arabian-owned farms in Australia, Canada and Ukraine for delivery from May to December 2021.

SAGO had not issued an international tender for wheat.

SAGO governor Ahmad A. Al Fares said in a statement that the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock investment company (SALIC) won a tender to supply hard wheat of 12.5 percent from Saudi investments abroad.

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The purchase “comes within the framework of the state’s trend to benefit from these investments, and it is also in line with the kingdom’s agricultural
investment program abroad, representing one of the multiple food security programs, aimed at diversifying sources of foreign food supplies,” SAGO said.

SALIC was formed to secure food supplies for the desert kingdom through mass production and foreign investments.

In April 2020, SAGO had issued a similar invitation to Saudi investors abroad to supply 10 percent of the Kingdom’s wheat needs.

SAGO said at that time bids were being sought to supply 355,000 tonnes of wheat during May-November 2020 depending on harvests in the invested countries.

SALIC had been checking prices with wheat export houses over the weekend, European traders said. Canada is usually excluded from Saudi Arabian grain tenders following diplomatic tension between the two countries.

The wheat now purchased will be in six consignments. Of the total 120,000 tonnes in two shipments will be unloaded in Jeddah or Yanbu sea ports, 180,000 tonnes in three shipments will be received in Dammam while Jazan will receive 55,000 tonnes in one shipment.

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