The Economist of the Middle East
The Egyptian authorities refused entry to an Indian shipment of wheat that the boat it was carrying had diverted from Turkey to Egypt.
The head of the Egyptian Agricultural Quarantine, Ahmed Al-Attar, told Sky News Arabia: “We received a request from a company that owns 55 thousand tons of Indian wheat shipment and wants to enter Egyptian ports after it was supposed to go to Turkey.”
Al-Attar indicated that this shipment was refused entry to the Egyptian ports and will not be allowed to enter at all after making sure that it does not comply with the requirements of the Egyptian agricultural quarantine.
He added that Egypt does not accept any shipment that was rejected by another country, and “we have confirmed that the agricultural quarantine in Turkey rejected that shipment.”
Regarding what was raised that Egypt had eased the requirements of the agricultural quarantine due to the wheat crisis, Al-Attar said, “This is a completely false statement.”
He explained that Egypt “did not reduce its stone requirements, and the Egyptian stone requirements are among the most difficult and precise requirements in the world, and they are not tolerated.”
Regarding allowing an increase in the percentage of harmful ergot in imported wheat, Al-Attar said, “This did not happen, and the permissible percentage of ergot in wheat that enters Egypt is always zero.”
He added, “But we allow the import of wheat according to international ratios if it contains ergot less than 0.05, provided that the shipment is processed and the stone bodies of the ergot fungus are separated from the shipment and destroyed under the supervision of the agricultural quarantine.”
He stressed that “the shipment does not enter the country until it is confirmed that it has become completely free of ergot.”
He stressed that “the requirements of the agricultural quarantine in Egypt have not and will not be eased, and that the Egyptian agricultural quarantine is a red line and never compromises in the requirements for import or export, even if there is a crisis in wheat, but there is no crisis in wheat, and the only problem is its high price.”
