In an interview with RIA Novosti earlier this week, Mohammed Hassan Qatana, the Minister of Agriculture for Syria, revealed that Syria closed a major deal for the importation of grain from Russia.

The minister noted the deal would involve the Arab republic purchasing 1.4 million tons of the crops. It comes as Syria has been looking to deepen its trade relationship with the Kremlin.

Qatana noted that the quantity of grain which the deal would yield would be enough to cover the entirety of Syria’s grain consumption for a full year.

He emphasized that the nation had already taken delivery of large volumes of wheat from Russia and that the deliveries were going “smoothly.”

The deal has been inked as Russia is projecting this year’s harvest to come in as the second largest harvest the country has ever seen. Last year’s harvest was also a bumper crop as well, according to the official data.

The Agriculture Ministry of Russia just upgraded the forecast for this year’s grain harvest, to 135 million tons in net weight, which will include 90 million tons of wheat.

In recent years, Russia has risen to become the largest exporter of grain in the world, as record harvests have afforded it the ability to offer attractive pricing. Since the early 2000’s, that has helped it to quadruple its share on the global market, cementing the nation’s position at the top of the pile of global grain exporters.