Egypt yet to decide on Romania’s wheat cargo: Reuters

CAIRO – 22 August 2017: The decision on whether Egypt will accept or not a wheat shipment coming from Romania after poppy grains were detected in it is yet to be made by Attorney General Nabil Sadeq, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

The consignment was rejected by the Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection Authority at Safaga port last week. In a statement to Reuters, Judicial authorities expected authorities to reject the shipment.

The port banned the unloading of a 63 thousand ton shipment of wheat coming from Romania on Tuesday, August 15 as poppy grains, a type of narcotics, were found in the consignment.

A sample of these seeds was sent to the laboratories of the Ministry of Agriculture that asserted that they were indeed poppy seeds.

Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer, began to export wheat from different countries including Romania, Russia and Argentina to meet the needs of citizens, especially that the Minister of Supply Mohammed Ali Meselhy has declared in January 2017 that wheat reserves are sufficient until the beginning of April 2017.

Egypt has already rejected a 63,000 ton shipment of wheat at its Romanian port in September 2017 after checking for ergot, which is a common grain fungus that causes hallucinations when consumed in large amounts.