(Updates with comment from GASC’s vice chairman in second paragraph.)

Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Egypt’s main state wheat buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities, is being compensated for Russian wheat purchases which were delayed due to railroad congestion, said Nomani Nomani, GASC’s vice chairman.

The authority, which has purchased mostly Russian wheat this year, has had shipment delays of up to a week, Nomani told reporters at a Russian grains conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt today. The wheat remains “competitive,” he said.

“There were delays as all my wheat shipments come mostly from Novorossiysk,” Nomani said. “The suppliers are paying the penalties, not me.”

Russia’s monopoly rail operator lifted a ban on shipments of grains to OAO Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port on Sept. 7, while restrictions at a terminal owned by state grain trade United Grain Co. remain in place. OAO Russian Railways imposed the ban on Aug. 27 because of a backlog of freight cars near the ports.

--Editors: Sharon Lindores, Dan Weeks

To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Mahmoud Kassem in Sharm el-Sheikh at mkassem1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.