Egypt has no plans to stop importing Russian wheat, the trade minister said Sunday (May 31) after the country quarantined tens of thousands of tonnes of Russian grain over quality concerns.

Wheat shipments from Russia have been under intense scrutiny since mid-May after Egypt detected dead bugs and other impurities in the cargoes. More than 100,000 tonnes were quarantined at one stage.

The Russian Grain Union called the seizures provocative and an attempt to lower prices offered by suppliers. Russian federal food quality watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, stated it was convinced Russian grain seized by Egyptian authorities was of good quality.

Egypt, one of the world's largest wheat importers, bought nearly a quarter of the wheat exported by Russia in the current marketing year.

Egyptian Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid said the country has all the systems in place to check wheat shipments.

He said the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), Egypt's main state wheat buyer, had no plans to change the specifications for wheat imports.

Most Russian wheat is imported by private Egyptian trading companies.