Egypt's wheat market open to India

In a major breakthrough, Egypt on Friday opened up its 7 million tonne wheat market to India with its technical authorities clearing Indian grain quality for imports.

"Indian wheat is approved by our technical committee. This was one of the agenda items we agreed upon during discussions with Indian authorities and now our grain market is open to Indian produce," the visiting Egyptian Under-Secretary of State El Said Fouad Kassem said in New Delhi.

Proposals are also being examined to set up wheat silos and flour mills in Egypt by Indian enterprise.

Egypt consumes 10 million tonne of wheat annually, of which only 2-3 million tonne is produced within the country leaving immense potential for exports by India, officials said.

The breakthrough follows a meeting of the five-member Egyptian delegation with commerce ministry officials, late Thursday evening.

After the meeting, it was disclosed that the Egyptian Quarantine Authority had put its stamp of approval to wheat imports from India and handed over a copy of the country's quality standards and technical specifications which need to be met.

The Egyptian delegation has also suggested that India erect silos for storage of wheat besides setting up of wheat mills in their free zones.

The Indian government has agreed to examine the Egyptian request, as per the minutes of Indo-Egyptian Joint Working Group signed by Kassem and commerce ministry joint secretary V P C Shastry.