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Firm Demands Return of Wheat From Egypt

CAIRO, Egypt -- Grain firm Rosinteragroservis, or RIAS, said it had demanded the return of a wheat shipment held in Egypt so it can sell it to buyers in Indonesia.

Egypt ordered the seizure on Sunday of 56,000 tons of Russian wheat aboard the vessel Seabird for quality checks and suspended all grain contracts with Egyptian Traders, the firm that contracted the shipment from Russia.

RIAS is the company that sold and shipped the wheat on Seabird to Egyptian Traders.

"The shipment needs to go to Indonesia, the quality is perfect and our Indonesian buyers want this wheat," said Chris Vanhonacker, commercial director of RIAS.

Wheat shipments from Russia have been under intense scrutiny in the most populous Arab country since mid-May, when the prosecutor ordered a probe following the detection of dead bugs and impurities in Russian wheat imported by Egyptian Traders.

Over 100,000 tons of Russian wheat imported by various suppliers both from Egypt and abroad have since been held in ports in Egypt, local sources said.

The announcement of the Seabird seizure followed a decision on Sunday by Egypt's state prosecutor ordering Egyptian Traders Co. to re-export a 52,000-ton shipment held at the Red Sea port of Safaga.

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