Ljubljana - Only one bid was submitted as part of the government's public calls for the purchase of a total of 40,000 tonnes of wheat. Slovenia wants to bulk up its domestic reserves in the face of the war in Ukraine. No details about the bid have been released.

Prime Minister Robert Golob said today that "evidently farmers had no problem selling the wheat and there is nothing wrong with that. They simply sold to the higher bidder."

This year, farmers got EUR 370-390 a tonne for top quality wheat, while wheat for fodder was sold from about EUR 300 a tonne.

Published in the Official Journal of the EU, one public call was for 14,000 tonnes of wheat and a second for 26,000 tonnes with the obligation of Slovenia-based storage. The first call was estimated at EUR 4.2 million excluding VAT and the second at EUR 8.2 million.

The bid was submitted for the second public call, meaning it entails a maximum of 26,000 tonnes of wheat which must be stored in Slovenia.

The Commodity Reserves Agency said it will review the bid and make a decision within the specified time frame. The agency also said that current stockpile held several months worth of wheat.

Moreover, the current situation in the markets does not indicate that Slovenia would have to start relying on its wheat reserves, the agency said, adding the country was well supplied and that there was no reason for worry.

Visiting the Pomurje region on Tuesday, Golob said that if the state failed to acquire the planned quantities in this call, the call might be repeated.

"The good news is that [Ukraine's] main export port Odessa has opened in the meantime. I believe that the wheat shortage during the winter will not be as severe as it seemed only a month ago," Golob also said.

In the face of rising food and energy prices, the government said initially it was willing to buy Slovenia's entire wheat harvest, a move criticised by wheat processors as well as farmers because the state must take the lowest bid. Since the harvest, farmers have likely found better buyers.