Russia will send a trial shipment of wheat to Vietnam in September or October as it aims to resume active supplies to the country, its agriculture safety watchdog said on Friday.
Vietnam slashed purchases of the grain from Russia, the world’s largest wheat exporter, in 2019 after finding imports containing certain thistle seed as it feared this could spread across Vietnam and damage crops.
The trial shipment will be formed from wheat produced in regions which are free from the creeping thistle, the Russian watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, said in a statement after talks with representatives of Vietnam’s agriculture ministry.
As of now, 18 Russian producers are accredited by Vietnam as suppliers which fully meet Vietnamese requirements for quality and safety of the grain, the watchdog said.
Russia is also ready to host Vietnamese inspectors for phytosanitary control of export supplies during loading to ships, it said.
Russia supplied 188,000 tonnes of wheat to Vietnam in 2021, down from 2.6 million tonnes in 2018, the watchdog added.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Polina Devitt; editing by Mark Heinrich)
