The Ministry of Trade and Industry has announced that the quality of imported wheat, without consideration of price, is the most important criterion it uses when signing contracts with foreign suppliers. The announcement came as American and French wheat suppliers complained of the competitive pressure they were receiving from cheap Russian suppliers. Deputy Minister of Legal Affairs for the Ministry of Trade and Industry Hisham Ragib stated that the quality of the wheat takes precedence over price when the ministry is comparing offers from competing suppliers. According to Ragib, if two suppliers' wheat is of equal quality, then the ministry chooses the cheapest offer. Ragib reiterated to Al-Masry Al-Youm his ministry's policy of expanding the sources of Egypt's imported wheat, particularly in light of the fierce competition that occurs among the competing countries to aquire export contracts with Egypt, the largest wheat importer in the world. American and French wheat suppliers have recently intensified their protests over the “practices of Russian wheat traders”, who benefit from lower transport costs when shipping their wheat to Egypt compared to their competitors. According to Namany Namany, vice-chairman of the Food Commodities Authority, a division of the Ministry of Trade and Industry charged with considering offers from foreign wheat suppliers, “American wheat exporters are suffering due to competition with their Russian counterparts.” “The issue is not one of quality, for American and Russian wheat are both of equally high quality, but rather of increases in shipping costs,” he stated. Namany added that the Food Commodities Authority had created a standard protocol to ensure the quality of imported wheat so that all suppliers could be dealt with on an equal basis. Under this system, price is the only determinant of whether a tender is accepted from any given supplier if the quality standards are met. The vice-chairman noted that Russia “was worrying the other wheat suppliers due to its ability to capitalize on standards the authority put in place last year, requiring that all wheat shipments be sent from a single port.” He added, “The French suppliers have been complaining that they only have one port with suitable capacity.” Over the last 12 months, Russia supplied Egypt with 5.53 million tons of wheat, equaling 60 percent of its wheat imports. During that same period, France supplied 27 percent of Egypt's wheat imports, with the United States supplying 7 percent. Imported wheat meets approximately 60 percent of Egyptian domestic demand for the commodity. Egyptians are among the highest per-capita consumers of wheat in the world, consuming 180kg of wheat per person per year, double the international average. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
