Russia Hungry For Slice Of Saudi Wheat Market

Record wheat harvest leads Russia to tap new markets

- Anatoly Medetsky & Javier Blas

Moscow is lobbying Saudi Arabia to open its rapidly growing market to Russian wheat, giving it another destination to offload a record harvest and compete with supplies from the European Union.

Russian wheat has largely been barred from entering the kingdom for the past decade due to strict bug-damage rules, but the two nations have begun talks on starting up trade. It’s the latest sign of increased collaboration between the two in global commodities markets -- the nations are leading a group of 24 nations that have cut oil production to lift energy prices.