Egypt has transferred responsibility for vegetable oil imports from one state-owned wholesaler to another.

The newly appointed Food Industries Holding Company (FIHC) is also responsible for issuing letters of credit (L/Cs) for vegetable oil imports.

Changed responsibilities

Vegetable oil imports were previously the responsibility of the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), which used to handle imports for FIHC and another commodity purchasing enterprise, Meditrade.

FIHC and Meditrade would then sell on to retailers while it was GASC that would ultimately issue L/Cs to suppliers.

Now, FIHC is the only body responsible for issuing L/Cs and import tenders for vegetable oils.

Shipment delays

Traders say there have been delays in some shipments agreed under the old system and cargoes are being held up in at least one Egyptian port due to discrepancies between the new system requirements and the L/C documentation.

"The ship delayed offloading because of this as there was a lack of clarity as to which body would be responsible for issuing L/CS," one Cairo-based trader told local media.

The same source suggested two other shipments were also experiencing delays but these cargoes have yet to arrive in Egypt.

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