Russia is among Senegal’s largest grain suppliers in 2026, meeting nearly a quarter of the country’s needs, Moscow’s ambassador to the West African nation has said. The shipments come amid a shift in the continent’s food markets, where Russian wheat has gained ground against European suppliers.
Ambassador Dmitry Kurakov told RIA Novosti in an interview published on Sunday that “around 23–24% of Senegal’s total needs are covered by imports from Russia.”
Senegal is also one of Russia’s largest trading partners in sub-Saharan Africa, purchasing petroleum products and fertilizers alongside grain, Kurakov said. He put annual Russian exports to the country at approximately $1 billion, down from more than $1.3 billion previously. The ambassador said exporters generally followed international market prices but sought to undercut competitors to increase sales in a fiercely competitive grain market.
Russian grain exports to Africa reached approximately 13 million metric tons in January–September 2026, up 8% from a year earlier, according to agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor.
Egypt was the largest buyer, taking 5.9 million tons. Sudan imported about 1.5 million tons, nearly 50% more, while shipments to Kenya rose 150% to roughly 1.2 million tons. In Tanzania, Russian wheat shipments reached a record of more than 850,000 tons in the 2025/26 season, up 16% from the previous season, Agroexport reported in July.
The expansion has come partly at the expense of European suppliers. A July 2025 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) report found that Russia accounted for nearly half of North Africa’s wheat imports in the 2024/25 season, including around 70% in Egypt. The EU’s regional share fell to just over a quarter as its exportable supplies declined.
Russia has overtaken France as the leading wheat supplier to Algeria, historically a major buyer of French grain, according to the USDA. An April 2026 assessment said Algeria was increasingly buying Russian, Romanian and Bulgarian wheat, linking France’s exclusion from the market to quality issues and political tensions following Paris’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.
President Vladimir Putin said after last month’s Russia-Africa summit that Moscow would continue supplying grain commercially and free of charge, while offering support for agricultural production, processing and storage across the continent.
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