GASC to temporarily stop accepting French wheat? The General Authority for Supply Commodities, the world’s largest buyer of wheat, has reportedly taken an “informal decision” to temporarily halt imports of wheat from French traders, an unnamed GASC official tells Al Mal. The decision is a result of the stir caused by a French wheat shipment that was seized for allegedly containing poppy seeds, the source says. Supply Minister Ali El Moselhy had sat down with France’s ambassador to Cairo Stéphane Romatet on Wednesday, during which the ambassador said his country is keen to continue its participation in Egypt’s wheat tenders and continue providing “high quality” wheat. The GASC source downplayed the decision to suspend French wheat imports by saying that Egypt had previously banned and rejected wheat from other major suppliers including Russia over contamination concerns.

The news comes just days before French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to “concerns over human rights” with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. The two will also discuss “regional crises and the fight against terrorism” at their planned Thursday sitdown, Reuters reports. “Rights groups are in particular critical of the relationship between Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who in his previous role as defence minister, developed a personal relationship with Sisi, and say Paris has abandoned its principles for economic and security interests,” the newswire reports.