Lebanon is expected to receive 35,000 tonnes of wheat this week from Ukraine and Russia, according to Lebanon mills’ association Ahmad Hoteit to Reuters on Tuesday.
The wheat will be imported from Ukraine’s river ports Reni and Izmail, and Russia’s ports of Rostov-on-Don and Kavkaz.
“We asked our ministry of agriculture in Kiev for Lebanon to get priority as a destination for this wheat. We said, ‘Lebanon has been a friend to us,’ so they gave us the green light,’” said Lebanon’s Ukrainian Embassy in a statement.
Aside from the country’s economic crisis, the Russia-Ukraine conflict is another contributing factor to Lebanon’s wheat shortage since Ukraine is responsible for approximately 50% of the country’s wheat supply.
This is not the first time Ukraine has provided Lebanon with wheat. In March, Lebanon received 11,000 tonnes of wheat from the Eastern European country.
Lebanon has been facing a wheat crisis since the Beirut Explosion due to the destruction of the country’s biggest grain silos.
Last month, the Bakery Owners’ Syndicate claimed that the country’s bakeries are running out of wheat and flour, and bread was being sold on the black market due to the shortage of flour.
