PARIS: Algeria excluded French companies from a wheat import tender this week and required that participating firms did not offer French-origin wheat, in apparent fallout from renewed diplomatic tensions between Algiers and Paris, trading sources said.

The move, echoing a dispute three years ago that led to France being sidelined from its former colony’s wheat tenders for months, may reinforce the recent dominance of Black Sea supplies, led by Russian wheat, in Algeria’s massive import market.

Algeria is one of the world’s biggest wheat buyers and for many years France was by far its largest supplier.

France’s decision in July to back a plan for the Western Sahara region under Moroccan sovereignty angered Algiers, which supports the Polisario Front’s quest for an independent state there.