February 23, 2014
Egypt is the world's biggest wheat importer, normally buying some 10 million tons a year and while the suspected corruption is focused on rice, the moves come just days after two senior officials from the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) were transferred from their posts.
Traders fear any disarray within GASC could hurt its ability to launch international tenders. GASC has said the re-shuffles would not impact its import activity.
It has also unnerved companies involved in importing grain to Egypt and potentially a small group of global traders that supply them.
“It's chaos, even the people inside GASC don't know what's going on and are concerned,” said an international grain trader.
On Saturday, Supplies Minister Mohamed Abu Shadi had referred the head of the central import administration at GASC to administrative prosecutors for suspected corrupt dealings with traders.
“The case has no relation at all with wheat, it is about dealings to purchase local rice from local traders in which the official had extended traders' deadlines to 10 days instead of a week,” ministry spokesman Mahmoud Diab told Reuters but declined to name the man.
While GASC were not immediately available for comment, rice industry insiders were skeptical about the supply ministry's assessment.
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