Cairo: An executive in one of the major grain importing companies in Egypt has said that a funding crisis led to the reduction in the volume of grain shipments contracted, which may lead to congestion in the Egyptian ports in conjunction with the start of the harvest around the Black Sea.
Salah Tawfik, general manager of Medsofts, said that "private sector traders are turning to import less quantities for reasons including funding problems, which imposes additional pressure on the ports."
The currency crisis led to difficulties in financing imports of food and fuel, prompting traders to pull from stockpiles purchasing to meet basic needs only.
Tawfiq said: "The market has changed. Importers bring 30 tons instead of 60 tons and sell less because no one wants to keep any inventories."
He added: "The waiting period in Egypt could be ten days and up to 20 days starting from August when the crop of the Black Sea is at its rush, due to the lack of berthing docks or storage spaces which lead to unloading ships delay." [16/07/13]
