Now ‘No Entry’ as Turkey in Egypt, returned wheat said ‘Rotten’ as Turkey
Now a new twist has come in the matter related to the export of Indian wheat. Now the African country of Egypt has refused to give entry to about 55,000 tonnes of wheat. Originally this wheat was to go to Turkey.
Reuters quoted Egypt’s Plant Quarantine Chief Ahmed Al Attar as saying that the ship carrying 55,000 tonnes of wheat was refused before it could enter Egypt. At the same time, the Turkish Quarantine Authorities have already banned the arrival of this ship.
Turkey returned as ‘rotten’
Turkey had refused to accept this consignment due to the complaint of Rubella virus being found in Indian wheat. After that it was sent to Egypt. However, the wheat consignment sent to Turkey was not exported directly from India. It was sold by the Indian company ITC Limited to a company based in the Netherlands. After that it reached Turkey.
Later news came that this consignment has been bought by an Egyptian trader and the ship has now left for this African country with wheat. Now Reuters has reported that Egypt has also shown this wheat a ‘No Entry’ board.
India will wait for approval
In a separate news, the Indian government has confirmed that it will wait for customs clearance to export wheat to Egypt. Earlier, on the return of Turkey’s wheat, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said on Thursday that the quarantine and other necessary procedures were completed before the wheat consignment was dispatched from India. He had said that talks with the Turkish authorities have not yet been held on the refusal to take the consignment of wheat.
Egypt is the world’s largest wheat importer
Although Egypt is the world’s largest wheat importer. In May itself, Egypt’s Food Supply Minister Ali Moselhy made a deal to buy 5 lakh tonnes of wheat directly from India. This deal was to be separate from the normal tender process, but it has not been signed yet. Earlier in April, the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture had allowed the import of wheat from India.
Due to the Russia-Ukraine War, the gap between the demand and supply of wheat has worsened worldwide. It has also affected Egypt. In the international market, the price of European Union (EU) wheat is around Rs 43 per kg, while Indian wheat is being sold at Rs 26 per kg. The difference in prices between the two is Rs 17 per kg.
India imposed a ban on export of wheat
Recently, on May 13, India had banned the export of wheat. Earlier, India had approved a consignment of 56,000 tonnes of wheat to Turkey. At the same time, Egyptian Food Minister Ali Moselhi had also made it clear that this ban will not affect the deal between India and Egypt, because these bans do not affect the import-export between the two governments.
