Libya Rejects Contaminated Russian Wheat Shipment

The Libyan Food and Drug Control Center has announced its rejection of a wheat shipment, weighing approximately 26,300 tons from Russia.

According to a statement, the shipment arrived at the port of Al-Khums on Thursday.

The center attributed the refusal to the high percentage of grains infested with pests, which violates the specific standards for importing soft wheat.

Russia is a major wheat supplier to Libya, providing 20% of the country’s needs, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) last year. The report also highlighted Libya’s consumption of 1.25 million tons of soft wheat per year.

Notably, FAO said that Libya relies heavily on imports, estimated at 90%, to cover its cereal consumption requirements, mostly wheat for human consumption and barley for feed.

Between 2016 and 2020, Libya sourced over 30% of its wheat imports from Ukraine, and 20% from Russia, according to FAO. Almost 65% of total maize imports of 650,000 tonnes, and 50% of total barley imports of 1 million tonnes originated from Ukraine. This makes the country vulnerable to disruptions in shipments from the Black Sea region.

However, Libya’s Minister of Economy, Mohamed Al-Hwaij has denied any negative impact of the Ukrainian crisis on the grain market in Libya. He emphasised that “the country’s strategic reserves of wheat are sufficient for more than a year.”

“The Ukrainian crisis will not have a significant impact on the country’s grain market because it covers only 20% of Libya’s wheat imports,” he said in press statements.

The minister explained that one million tonnes of wheat are consumed annually, while imports from Ukraine do not exceed 200,000 tonnes.

Al-Hwaij added that Libya’s emergency stock of soft wheat is sufficient for six months, and there will be no shortage of flour. He also pointed out that “there are many alternatives” to importing wheat in the event the crisis in Ukraine continues.

Tags: wheat, Libya, FAO, shipment, consumption, soft wheat, pests, Ukraine, rejection, Russia, barley, Grains