Cairo | Reuters — A court that ordered the suspension of Egypt’s food inspection system based its ruling in part on the quarantine service’s right to ban grain imports with any trace of the ergot fungus, raising the possibility the contested rule could be restored. The government’s new food inspection system simplified trade after a […] Read more
Egypt court ruling revives row over ergot in wheat
Egypt’s wheat imports again uncertain as ergot ban looms
Cairo | Reuters — An Egyptian court has decided to reinstate a zero tolerance policy on common grain fungus ergot, lawyers on the case told Reuters on Tuesday, plunging trade with the world’s largest wheat importer back into uncertainty. Egypt last year scrapped a ban on ergot in grain imports after it effectively halted purchase […] Read more
Egypt stocks up on strategic commodities ahead of devaluation
Cairo/Abu Dhabi | Reuters –– Egypt said it plans to build a six-month reserve of essential food items, adding to other recent purchases of commodities such as oil and wheat, in what traders said was a move to build up stocks ahead of a currency devaluation. Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said late on Tuesday the […] Read more
Russia may ban Egyptian citrus amid wheat dispute
Moscow/Cairo | Reuters — Russia threatened to ban Egyptian citrus imports on Tuesday, a move that could escalate a trade dispute over exports of Russian wheat to the world’s largest importer of the grain. Moscow said this week it hopes to hold talks with Egypt, its top buyer, over Cairo’s failure to approve Russian wheat […] Read more
Health ministry decision makes zero ergot Egypt’s new normal
Abu Dhabi/Cairo | Reuters — Egypt’s health ministry banned wheat with any ergot fungus on Monday, a decision traders said signals the zero tolerance policy that wreaked havoc on the country’s grain purchases earlier this year is back to stay. The decree, seen by Reuters, brings the ministry in line with an agriculture ministry decree […] Read more
Egypt’s GASC cancels wheat tender as ergot policy bites
Cairo/Abu Dhabi | Reuters — Egypt’s ability to buy wheat from abroad while demanding zero ergot fungus in shipments was dealt a serious blow on Wednesday, with state grain buyer GASC cancelling its tender after receiving just one offer. It was the country’s first tender to purchase wheat since it reinstated its zero-tolerance ergot policy […] Read more
Egypt bans ergot in wheat, again
Cairo/Abu Dhabi | Reuters — Egypt reinstated on Sunday a controversial ban on wheat shipments containing even the slightest amount of a common grain fungus, baffling traders who had returned to the Egyptian market just last month when the ban was lifted. The world’s largest wheat importer said on Sunday it was re-introducing its zero […] Read more
Egypt’s wheat corruption scandal takes down supply minister
Cairo/Abu Dhabi | Reuters — Egypt’s Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafi has resigned amid the highest-profile corruption case since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power in 2014. Hanafi’s resignation is the most senior-level fallout from a probe into whether millions of dollars intended to subsidize farmers were used to purchase wheat that did not […] Read more
Egypt returns to zero tolerance of ergot in wheat
Abu Dhabi/Cairo | Reuters — Egypt has rejected two shipments of wheat for containing trace levels of the ergot fungus, backtracking on a government pledge to apply international standards and alarming traders looking to do business with the world’s largest buyer of the grain. Earlier this year traders boycotted state wheat tenders after the country’s […] Read more
Egypt’s ergot saga leaves wheat traders in limbo
Reuters — One Egyptian official’s tough stance on wheat imports carrying a fungus that wreaked havoc in the Middle Ages is baffling global grain traders and putting a spotlight on policy-making disarray in the world’s biggest purchaser of the commodity. Alarm bells began ringing in Egypt when a 63,000-tonne wheat shipment from France arrived in […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
