Egypt ships back Russian grain, Moscow calls the move a provocation
Published: 07 June, 2009, 18:47
TAGS: Conflict, Africa, Russia
The Egyptian prosecutor’s office has ordered to ship back a load of Russian grain quarantined last month on quality concerns. Russia has labeled the move ‘provocative’.
52.000 tonnes of wheat worth more than US$9 million were seized after an inspection check reportedly found insects and heavy metals in the grain.
Egypt, one of the world’s biggest importers of grain, has demanded that the wheat be returned, along with a refund of the shipment.
Russia insists that it exports only high-quality grain and is not responsible for quality concerns, said Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, speaking at the World Grain Forum in St. Petersburg.
“We send high-quality grain to Egypt and these are insinuations. This is a deliberate delay which has nothing to do with us,” Zubkov said.
The Russian Grain Union has called the move provocative, and sees in it an attempt to lower the prices offered by the suppliers.
07.06.2009, 09:21
2 comments
“When the dollar went up, the markets went down”The US is the biggest economy in the world, and if the blame for the global economic crisis is put on the US, it is put on the centre of the financial world - it is the same thing. |
08.06.2009, 08:39
Truth about Georgia from behind the lensWhile critics of the Georgian government say authorities continue to intimidate the shrinking independent media, there's one documentary maker who won't be pressured into concealing the truth. |
All these problem-shooting from Georgia, Ukraine, Poland, Egypt, the Baltic states and so on just show that someone somewhere does not want Russia to place the right foot but I assure you Russia is headed and is heading in the right direction for prosperity. Thank you
Yes! I agree with Artyom. There is something odd about the way Egypt is behaving towards Russia. Has it got anything to do with the visit last week of the US president? Or with the way the Ukraine has been behaving, or the Georgian misbehavior - and so on and so forth. It does look as though the US is constantly threatening Russia in one way or another.
Russia stopped importing grain from Poland first for no reason, so I do not pity russian grain exporters here - but it doesn`t mean that I agree with what Egypt is doing.