Cairo says to finish unloading Romanian wheat cargo by Tuesday

Egypt will finish unloading by Tuesday a 63,000-tonne cargo of Romanian wheat that had been held for containing poppy seeds, an agriculture ministry official stated Sunday.

Egypt’s Ministry of Agriculture had temporarily halted the unloading in mid-September upon the discovery of the impurity, sparking renewed concerns over a possible dispute between international traders and the world’s largest importer of wheat.

Forty-three thousand tonnes have already been unloaded, said agriculture ministry spokesman Hamid Abdel Dayem, adding none of the cargo had been transferred for sieving yet.

Egypt’s Minister of Supply and International Trade, Ali Moselhi, said last week the sieving process had been completed for the entire shipment, which is being watched closely by grain traders who worry there could be another row over import rules if it is rejected.

Last year Egypt temporarily banned wheat cargoes containing any trace of ergot, a common fungus, in a move which raised objections among international wheat suppliers.

Source: Reuters