October 20, 2009

Egypt's Central Administration for Plant Quarantine said a detained cargo of 63,000 tonnes of French wheat has been released for processing.

"After its treatment we took a sample and it complied with the Egyptian standards," the head of the Central Administration of Plant Quarantine, Ali Soliman, told Dow Jones Newswires by telephone.

"The wheat was released on Saturday," Soliman said.

Soliman had told Dow Jones Oct. 4 that the shipment, which arrived at Egypt's Safaga Port on Sept.17, would be released in 10 days.

The shipment belongs to Egypt's state-owned wheat buyer GASC.

It was seized for containing 44 poisonous and impure seeds a kilogramme. Egyptian standards only permit 20 poisonous seeds a kilogramme.

French wheat has accounted for roughly one-third of GASC's wheat imports in 2009. French wheat has averaged about US$185 a tonne, according to Cairo-based investment bank Beltone Financial.

Egypt is one of the world's largest wheat importers. Its imports have been at the centre of controversy since May, when Egyptian authorities quarantined a shipment of 52,501 tonnes of Russian wheat imported by Egyptian Traders Co., one of the country's largest wheat importers, because it found weed seeds and dead insects in the grain.