Egypt scrapped the ban on import of wheat with trace levels of ergot
28 May 2018, 09:44
Egypt’s top administrative court permitted the import of Russian wheat with trace levels of ergot, APK-Inform writes.
"The top administrative court has ruled that the country should accept wheat with marginal levels of the common grain fungus ergot," Reuters reports.
Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, baffled grains markets when it began imposing a zero tolerance level on ergot in 2016, prompting suppliers to boycott state tenders until the country re-instated a tolerance of up to 0.05 percent ergot in cargoes, a common international standard.
The total fungus ban was lifted, only for a lower administrative court to reinstate it, citing health concerns.
That ban was never adopted at Egypt’s ports, as the government appealed the decision and said it would continue to permit up to 0.05 percent in cargoes during the appeal process.
Egypt’s agriculture ministry said earlier this year it would form a committee to revise legislation governing the work of the agricultural quarantine authority, the primary government agency that had pushed for a blanket ergot ban.