Any agreements by the Egyptian government to purchase Indian wheat will not be affected by an export ban announced by New Delhi, Egypt's supply minister said on Sunday.
"For India, we are talking with them on the basis of a government agreement. The ban exempts governments including the government of Egypt," minister Ali Moselhy said at a news conference.
Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer, faces a challenge in securing wheat after Russia's invasion of Ukraine further inflated high global prices and disrupted relatively cheap Black Sea supplies that Egypt had increasingly relied on.
It approved the import of Indian wheat, only for India to ban wheat exports on Saturday as a scorching heatwave curtailed output and domestic prices hit a record high.
However, India said it would still allow exports backed by letters of credit that were already issued, and sales to countries that request supplies "to meet their food security needs".
Egypt's government had agreed to buy half a million tonnes of wheat from India, Mr Moselhy said in separate comments to Reuters on Sunday.
Egypt's state grains buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities, typically purchases wheat through international tenders, but Mr Moselhy told the news conference that the Cabinet had approved direct purchases from countries or companies.
Egypt was in talks with India, Australia, Kazakhstan and France for such deals, he said.
Mr Moselhy also said Egypt had turned away a ship, which Ukraine's embassy in Cairo had alleged was carrying wheat from Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine, on the grounds it did not have the proper paperwork.
"There were no shipping documents and there was no request for purchase from any private or government body. We refused its entry to Egyptian ports," Mr Moselhy said.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
