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Saudi Arabia’s main state wheat buying agency (SAGO) said on Aug. 7 that it has stopped buying Canadian wheat and barley in its international tenders, according to Reuters.

The decision stems from a diplomatic dispute between the countries. Saudi Arabia recently expelled the Canadian ambassador in retaliation for Canada’s call to free Saudi civil society activists.

Total Canadian wheat sales to Saudi Arabia in 2017, excluding durum, was 66,000 tonnes. In 2016, Saudi Arabia purchased 68,250 tonnes of wheat.

Canada exported 132,000 tonnes of barley to Saudi Arabia in 2017, but Jerry Klassen, manager of Winnipeg-based GAP SA Grains and Products, told Reuters that weather problems in other major grain producing regions probably would have increased Saudi Arabia’s demand for Canadian barley.

“This year could have been a year where we could have seen some Canadian barley trade there in October-November,” he said.

In 2016, Saudi Arabia started phasing out domestic wheat production, which had been used for feed, to help conserve water resources. The policy ended a 30-year program for irrigating domestic wheat production and has made it more dependent on imports.