Syria is finalising a deal to buy 200,000 tonnes of soft wheat from Turkey's Tiryaki as part of an aggressive purchasing programme aimed at taking advantage of lower world prices, a commodities official said on Monday. European traders had said that a deal was struck at 137 euros ($176.7) a tonne, but the official said the price was fixed at 132.5 euros a tonne and the origin of the wheat had yet to be agreed upon.

 

"The letter of credit is yet to be to be opened and we will know the origin of the wheat this week," the official told Reuters, expecting the cargo to begin arriving next month. "We would like to purchase as much as we can because the prices are falling, but we are restrained by the capacity of our ports," he added.

 

Another 150,000 tonnes of Russian wheat will start arriving in Syria in the second half of this month - the first instalment of a 500,000 tonnes grant from the United Arab Emirates, the official told Reuters. Syria was forced to import wheat in the last few months for the first time in 15 years after one of its smallest harvests on record. Production is estimated to have fallen to as little as 2 million tonnes this year compared to a planned 4.7 million.