Egypt Export and Import: control body to lead wheat inspections

Egypt's General Organization for Export and Import Control (GOEIC) will replace the quarantine as the body responsible for inspecting strategic agricultural imports, according to a new government decree, after a stand-off over wheat hampered trade.
The decree, issued by the prime minister and published in the official gazette on Sunday, said the GOEIC would have sole responsibility for inspecting wheat and other important agricultural goods and any such imports would require its approval.
The decree follows the resolution of a months-long standoff over wheat import rules that hampered the country's ability to purchase grains from abroad.
Egypt, the world's largest wheat buyer, had imposed a zero-tolerance policy on the common grain fungus ergot earlier this year.
The rule was reversed after suppliers shunned the state's tenders and effectively cut off the country's access to global grains.
The agriculture quarantine was widely viewed by suppliers as spearheading the zero-tolerance policy. A regulation governing the body required zero tolerance on ergot despite conflicting legislation allowing for trace levels of up to 0.05 percent, a common international standard.
Though traders have returned to state grain buyer GASC's tenders in larger numbers in recent weeks, many have continued to avoid making offers amid uncertainty over the quarantine's inspection process and amid fears that the body could still reject their cargoes.
The new decree stipulates that companies will retain the option of sending delegations abroad to inspect their cargoes at ports of origin at the expense of the supplying company.
When reversing its controversial ergot ban in September, Egypt said it would end the practice of sending government delegations abroad to inspect wheat shipments, a change that worried suppliers that viewed the delegations as a safeguard against costly rejections upon arrival.
"If article five means we can send delegations again, this is perfect," said one wheat trader referring to the decree.