Sunset in Egypt on the Nile River south of Luxor. (CIA.gov)

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

The Nile River at Cairo. (CIA.gov)

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



Khaled Hanafi, Egypt’s minister for supply and internal trading, shown here at a meeting Tuesday, has resigned in the wake of the country’s ongoing probe into purchases of local wheat. (MSIT.gov.eg)

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



Sunset in Egypt on the Nile River south of Luxor. (CIA.gov)

Egypt appoints new top wheat buyer

Cairo | Reuters — Egypt appointed a new head on Sunday for its state wheat-importing body — one of the most influential positions in the global wheat market — as it remains mired in a dispute over the quality of grain it will buy. Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafi told Reuters Ahmed Youssef has been



(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Egypt quarantine authority to ban ergot until new laws passed

Cairo | Reuters — Egypt’s agriculture quarantine authority will continue to apply a zero ergot policy on wheat shipments until new legislation is issued, the new head of the authority told Reuters on Tuesday. Former quarantine chief Saad Moussa’s zero-tolerance policy on common grains fungus ergot resulted in shipments to the world’s biggest importer of