Court fungus ruling casts shadow over Egypt grain imports

Egypt's agriculture ministry said on Wednesday it was awaiting a cabinet ruling after a court reinstated a ban on wheat imports containing the common ergot fungus, renewing uncertainty over a policy that has disrupted trade. The world's largest wheat buyer stunned grain markets last year when it imposed a zero tolerance level on ergot, prompting a supplier boycott of state tenders until Egypt adopted a tolerance of 0.05 percent, a common international standard.
Tuesday's court ruling cancelled that decree, according to a lawyer that raised the case. Inspectors at the state quarantine service say even traces of ergot can harm plant and animal health but other officials at the agriculture ministry, which supervises the service, as well as the supply and trade ministries, back the 0.05 percent standard.
"The ruling was against a decision that was issued by the cabinet so we have to await directions from there to know whether it will affect our process," Hamid Abdel Dayim, spokesman for the ministry told Reuters. "Until then it is business as usual," he said. The flow of wheat in Egypt is politically sensitive because it is used by the government to supply a sprawling bread subsidy programme relied on by tens of millions of Egyptians at a time of economic austerity.