The state-run General Authority for Commodities Supply (GACS) is tightening measures on importing wheat to ensure its quality before shipment, Mona El-Fiqi reports For the first time an official committee including members from the Central Administration of Agricultural Quarantine, Export and Import Control Authority and Health Ministry will inspect wheat imports in foreign ports before shipment. "If the wheat quality does not meet Egyptian specifications, the committee has the authority to refuse the shipment," Nomani Nomani, deputy chairman of the GACS, told Al-Ahram Weekly. The government took the decision in accordance with all exporting countries that deal with Egypt. Nomani added that the committee's approval does not mean that wheat will be permitted to enter the country without being checked again at Egyptian ports. Before taking this decision, wheat imports used to be inspected by a representative of the agricultural quarantine. Egypt is the world's biggest wheat importer. Since local production does not meet demand, Egypt's total requirement of wheat imports annually is almost 10 million tonnes of which 6.5 to 7.5 million tonnes are imported by GACS to be used in producing baladi subsidised bread, while the remaining amount is imported by the private sector for producing other kinds of bread. Due to the increase of local wheat production this year, analysts expected that the total amount of wheat imports is going to fall by two million tonnes. Nomani agreed that it might fall but he said that it is hard to determine quantities since there are a lot of factors that interfere and affect wheat imports such as wheat local production, Egypt's total population, the number of newly established bakeries for subsidised bread, and the price of alternative food staples such as potato. However, the average of the government needs of wheat imports to cover subsidised bread remains between six to seven million tonnes, according to Nomani. The government is buying wheat through international tenders. Egypt's list of approved countries includes the US, France, Argentina, Canada, Australia, Germany and Kazakhstan. While the authority approved the Romanian wheat, it is still considering restoring the Ukrainian wheat on which an export fee was recently imposed, according to Nomani. "We want to diversify origins to promote competition and prevent monopoly in order to get the best quality for the best prices," said Nomani. The authority is keen to study the wheat world map very carefully to determine the markets through which Egypt can buy its needs of wheat, according to Nomani. As for Russia, Nomani explained that the door is open again for Russian wheat since it was permitted to join a recent tender held on 5 August but according to Egypt's specifications and on condition that imports are of a newly harvested crop, and not last year's crop as the authority made it clear to the Russian government. Half of Egypt's total wheat imports used to come from Russia, previously the world's third largest grain exporter, but in August 2010, following the country's worst drought in more than a century, Russia imposed a ban on grain exports to stabilise domestic prices. In July 2011, the Russian ban expired and Russia tried to win back its customers by selling at lower prices. Nomani said that the Russian wheat price was less than the French wheat by $42 per tonne, but gradually Russia started to minimise the difference tender by tender to now reach $32 per tonne.
