Syria's state grains agency has issued an international tender to purchase and import 200,000 tonnes of soft wheat for bread making, European traders said on Thursday. The tender deadline is October 19, traders said. Traders said in September they believed Syria would need to import wheat in the coming months despite a good harvest this year.
Syrian farmers enduring a fifth year of civil war have sold less wheat to the state than last year, despite the better crop and higher price offered by the government, leaving a large shortfall to be filled with imports. Wheat and other foods are excluded from Western trade sanctions imposed on Syria due to the government's attempts to suppress a longstanding uprising in the country.
But dealers say difficulties in financing grain sales because of banking sanctions have deterred international trading firms from participating in Syrian tenders. President Bashar al-Assad's government has lost control over many wheat-producing areas in the fighting but said in February it would avoid imports by buying grain from Syrian farmers across the country. "The tender confirms an import requirement," one European trader said. The tender from the Syrian state agency General Establishment for Cereal Processing and Trade seeks offers on a cost and freight (c&f) basis in euros only, they said.