Egyptian authorities have refused to enter an Indian wheat shipment whose boat had changed direction from Turkey to Egypt.
"We received a request from a company that owns a 55,000-ton Indian wheat shipment that wants to enter Egyptian ports, after it was supposed to go to Turkey," Ahmed al-Attar, head of Egyptian quarantine, told Sky News Arabia.
Attar said the shipment was refused entry into Egyptian ports and will never be allowed in after it is confirmed that it does not comply with Egyptian quarantine requirements.
He added that Egypt does not accept any shipment rejected by another country and "we have confirmed that the agricultural quarantine in Turkey rejected that shipment".
"This is totally untrue," attar said.
He explained that Egypt "has not reduced its stone requirements, and egyptian stone requirements are one of the most difficult and strictest in the world and do not tolerate them."
"This has not happened, and the percentage of ergot allowed in wheat that enters Egypt throughout its life is zero," attar said.
"However, we allow the import of wheat in accordance with international ratios if it has less than 0.05 ergot, provided that the shipment is processed and the stone objects of the ergot mushrooms are separated from the shipment and executed under the supervision of the quarantine," he said.
"The shipment does not enter the country until it is confirmed that it is completely free of ergot," he said.
"Egypt's quarantine requirements have not and will not be relaxed, and Egyptian quarantine is a red line and never tolerates import or export requirements, even if there is a wheat crisis, but there is no wheat crisis, and the only problem is its high price," he said.