Egypt orders Cargill's US wheat shipment to be discharged

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Publish time: 30th October, 2009      Source: www.cnchemicals.com
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October 30, 2009

   

Egypt orders Cargill''s US wheat shipment to be discharged
   
   


A shipment of US wheat held for extra testing at an Egyptian port has resumed discharging, a spokesperson at the international grain company Cargill Inc. said Thursday (October 29).

   

   

"We can confirm operations have resumed and the discharging of the vessel continues," said the Cargill spokesperson.

   

   

The shipment, being delivered by Cargill to Egypt''s state wheat-buyer the General Authority for Supply Commodities, or GASC, wasn''t allowed to complete discharging after an initial sample showed it contained more than the legal limit of seeds.

   

   

However, following further tests, "the shipment has been released and unloaded by a decision from the agriculture quarantine," said Nomani Nomani, undersecretary of the GASC vice chairman.

   

   

The first sample of wheat taken from the shipment showed it was carrying 996 seeds a kilogramme, exceeding the limit which is set at 25/kg, said a government official. Nomani was unable to confirm what the results of the second test were.

   

   

The delayed discharge of the wheat follows months of increased scrutiny of wheat imports into Egypt, after authorities quarantined 52,501 tonnes of Russian wheat in May, because it found weed seeds and dead insects in the grain.