Source: Oleoscope (Russia)
Russia has almost completely ousted France from the Algerian grain market, according to the French newspaper L’Opinion. According to the newspaper, 10 years ago Paris was the main supplier of food for Algeria.
The country stopped buying grain from France after statements by the republic’s president Emmanuel Macron about the disputed territories of Western Sahara. “Now Russia supplies 90% of the wheat the country needs,” the publication notes. Experts expect that in 2025 the volume of supplies will be equal to zero.
On July 30, 2024, Macron sent a message to King Mohammed VI of Morocco on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his ascension to the throne. In it, the President emphasized that “the present and future of Western Sahara lies within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.” Macron also assured Mohammed VI of “the inviolability of the French position on this issue of the kingdom’s national security,” TASS quoted France’s position as saying.
The situation in Western Sahara has been the subject of a long-running international dispute for many decades. The independence of Western Sahara is sought by the Polisario Front, created in the mid-1970s, which after the departure of the Spanish colonizers proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and with the support of Algeria launched an armed struggle. Fighting in the conflict zone continued until 1991 and was stopped after the UN sent a peacekeeping mission there. Despite numerous peace initiatives by the international community, the dispute cannot be resolved due to the diametrically opposed positions of the parties.
France is facing its worst wheat exports in decades as a rift with Algeria, lower demand in China and poor harvests accelerate the loss of market share by the European Union’s leading grain producer in favor of more affordable and efficient producers such as Russia.