Qatar’s sole wheat importer Zad Holdings yesterday said it has more than six months’ buffer to mitigate the effect of the globally rising prices in view of Russia’s stoppage of exports.
“We have strategic reserves. We have cover for the next six months. Hence we do not see any threat in the short run,” Zad Holdings CEO Tareq Mohamed said in Doha on the sidelines of a function to discuss its first half results.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had banned grain and flour exports from August 15 to December 31 as worst drought on record had devastated crops in parts of that country and as a result, prices of wheat started climbing and had touched a two-year high early this month.
With Russia, the world’s third largest wheat exporter, stopping exports, there has been huge demand for produce from other parts of the world.
However, Qatar, according to Mohamed, was immune since it basically imported wheat from Australia, Canada and Germany as the Russian wheat was extremely soft and was not in conformity with the standards prescribed in Qatar.[Read More]