Egypt’s state-backed Future of Egypt Authority for Sustainable Development has abandoned its standard 270-day deferred payment scheme in favor of immediate cash settlements for wheat imports, a trader familiar with the transactions told Al Manassa, as mounting Black Sea supply shortages push the country to seek alternative origins.
The policy shift follows a slump in grain inflows. Egypt’s wheat arrivals plunged by more than 75% across July and August, slumping to roughly 480,000 tons compared to 1.95 million tons during the identical period in 2025, hobbled by bottlenecks surrounding Russian and Ukrainian cargoes and worsening maritime transit disruptions.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the trade source explained that foreign grain suppliers triggered the overhaul by refusing deferred payment terms after substantial volumes from Russia and Ukraine dried up. The authority, the trader noted, can no longer dictate commercial terms as it routinely did under normal market conditions.
The agency historically financed wheat purchases through 270-day letters of credit, alongside 180-day deferred letters of credit for vegetable oils. These exceptional pressures, however, have compelled it to waive credit terms across selected wheat tenders.
The abrupt payment restructuring tracks severe logistical breakdowns across the Black Sea basin—the primary artery for Russian grain upon which Cairo depends to feed its population.
Late in July, Moscow restricted lorry deliveries of grain to three export terminals at the ports of Novorossiysk and Taman. Those measures followed weeks of heightened navigational curbs across the Sea of Azov in the wake of Ukrainian drone strikes on grain vessels.
Egypt leaned on Russia and Ukraine for roughly 80% of its imported wheat needs during the first half of this year, sourcing approximately 4.5 million tons from Russia alone over that span.
To plug emerging deficits, the Future of Egypt Authority concluded its first immediate-payment contract with France for wheat cargoes scheduled to berth this September, the source disclosed.
French milling wheat currently commands between $295 and $300 per ton, pricing at an attractive discount against Russian wheat at approximately $320 per ton.
Two bulk carriers transporting French grain—each laden with roughly 30,000 tons—are slated to arrive in the coming weeks, according to shipping manifests and trade estimates. The purchases form part of a broader procurement drive aimed at securing approximately 500,000 tons from France, Bulgaria, and Kazakhstan.
While France maintains an established commercial footprint in Egypt, its market share rarely exceeded 1% to 3% of aggregate imports in prior years. With shipments from Egypt’s two prime suppliers faltering, the source projected the French share will climb to between 6% and 10% through the remainder of the year.
The procurement crisis comes against high baseline demand. Egypt imported roughly 12.5 million tons of wheat in the 2025/26 fiscal year, according to Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Alaa Farouk. Those imports covered approximately 62% of domestic consumption, which stands at an estimated 20.3 million tons annually.
The country’s state-subsidized bread program alone requires roughly 8.6 million tons of grain every year.
