Egypt only accepting standard 0.05% ergot in wheat

Egypt is continuing to accept the standard international codex of 0.05 percent ergot fungus in wheat shipments, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday.

A 63,000-tonne French wheat shipment was rejected by Egyptian quarantine officials for exceeding the standard percentage last month.

"There were two containers in the shipment, one had 0.07 percent ergot and the other 0.09 percent," agriculture ministry spokesperson Eid Hawash told Ahram Online.

Traders told Reuters anonymously that they boycotted a state tender over the rejection of the French tender, which they claim contained a level of ergot that was below the acceptable threshold