Minister of Economy and Trade Amin Salam reaffirmed after a meeting of the ministerial committee tasked with monitoring food security headed by Prime Minister Najib Mikati that wheat is available and an agreement is ongoing in this regard. He stated, "We have approval to purchase fifty thousand tons of wheat by the Lebanese state, and we are in the final stages. We will receive this approval from the Ministry of Finance in the coming days to open the bidding for this quantity."
He added, "We have many offers; several countries have started to present them, and they will be studied quickly due to the urgency of this matter to avoid any delays. Urgent decisions with an exceptional character will be made. In other parts of the world, large quantities are being drawn, so we must secure the required amounts for Lebanon."
He noted that discussions were held regarding other food items such as sugar and oils. He received reassurances from several countries, primarily Algeria, which may reopen its sugar export, as well as assurances from India regarding sufficient sugar quantities to assist the Lebanese market. Regarding oil, he conducted a series of meetings with supermarket owners, importers, and industrialists concerned about oils, who confirmed that there are sufficient stocks to meet market needs. Therefore, Lebanese consumers should not hoard large amounts of oil gallons and buy more than necessary, as this takes away from some families in need of these items and creates a sort of crisis in the market, as materials are still available.
He continued, "Work is also ongoing on the fundamental topic of local wheat cultivation. The Minister of Agriculture, who participated in the meeting, confirmed that there is a project to develop soft wheat production in Lebanon. Experts have stated that Lebanon can cultivate this type of wheat. Unfortunately, past agricultural policies and those of previous governments have deprived the Lebanese farmer of incentives for this type of cultivation, so we do not have more than 10% of this cultivation." He hoped to follow up on the details of this plan with the Ministry of Agriculture in a few days and to inform Lebanese people about achieving a certain level of self-sufficiency by supporting this wheat used in making Arabic bread.
In response to a question about the quantities of wheat that have not yet been unloaded and that are still on ships, Salam answered: "When we talked about quantities of wheat sufficient for the consumer market for about a month to a month and a half, part of it was from the cargo of ships in the territorial waters, and part is still on the ships, purchased by the mills. We have about a month or a month and a half of wheat in the country because most of the ships, totaling around 11 vessels, have reached the territorial waters, with eight having entered and three remaining. The Governor of the Central Bank confirmed to us today (yesterday) that any credits still stuck in the central bank related to these ships will be processed as quickly as possible, meaning about 15 thousand tons will enter this week."
On another note, the Russian government yesterday imposed a ban on "exports of white sugar and raw cane sugar to third-world countries," which impacted the Lebanese market as those materials were withdrawn from the markets to raise their prices. A team from the Ministry of Economy, supported by a Security Forces patrol in Halba, toured supermarkets yesterday "to combat inflation and monopoly," especially of essential materials such as oils and sugar, where a legal record was drawn up for one store for monopolizing quantities of sugar.
Additionally, Russia imposed restrictions overnight on grain exports to four countries that were part of the former Soviet Union to avoid shortages and price increases. The Russian government's media office indicated that "Russia temporarily prohibits grain exports to the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union," namely Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan.
Russia announced it would keep restrictions on grain exports in place until June 30, while those on sugar exports would remain until August 31, 2022, according to the Russian government, which noted that the decision was made "to protect the internal food market against external restrictions." The decision regarding grains applies to wheat, meslin (a mixture of wheat and rye), rye, barley, and corn.
