In Algeria, a scandal over rotten Lithuanian wheat

Abderrahmane Bouchahda, CEO of the Algerian cereal office OAIC, was fired due to a scandal that a large shipment of imported wheat from Lithuania turned out to be unfit for human consumption, reported liberte-algerie.com and other outlets in the country. The decision to fire him was reportedly made by Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad himself.

This body is the only one in the country that has a permit to import grain. It is said that 30 thousand. tonnes of common wheat from Lithuania were imported through a Swiss supplier, the transaction is commercial. The OAIC pointed out that the fault lies with the suppliers.

Anonymous Liberte sources said the production would be returned and the costs would be borne by the supplier, given that the grain did not meet the terms of the contract signed between the two parties. It is also intended to scrupulously review the control procedures.

The ship entered an Algerian port on November 9, where the goods were inspected. The analysis showed that “the grains were really toxic,” Liberte writes. The sample is claimed to have been analyzed by the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Criminology. It is claimed that samples are taken from each part of the 500 ton shipment, inspectors noted “colored seeds”.

“We immediately stopped the load to analyze the samples in an accredited laboratory,” he said, citing the presence of unauthorized substances in the load.

The OAIC imports $ 3 billion worth of cereals a year into Algeria, according to algeriepartplus.com.

The Ministry has no official information

The Foreign Ministry has not yet received any official information on potentially low-quality wheat imported from Lithuania into Algeria, but is closely following the information that appears in the media, reporting in a short comment.

“Until the Algerian authorities provide official information, it is difficult to assess the possible irregularities and the responsibility of the exporters. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will decide on the possible participation and its actions after receiving and examining official information from the Algerian authorities,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs /

Processors question the reliability of the information

Dalia Ruščiauskienė, director of the Lithuanian Association of Grain Processors, assures that so far neither the Association nor the companies have received official information.

“Until now, neither we, as the Lithuanian Association of Grain Processors and Traders, nor any exporter have received any official information or claims about articles from the Algerian media about the quality of Lithuanian wheat. Due to the quality discrepancies addressed in items such as “colored seed, found minimally”, it can be considered as stained seed. It is unlikely that the stained seed entered the shipment, as the shipment is inspected multiple times: both when buying grain from producers of grain as when transporting it to the port and loading it on a ship ”, comments the association.

It is claimed that all available information is only from the Algerian media, which is exchanging, the information is not specific.

“We think this could be more about political issues than the perceived quality of imported grain, as there are currently changes in the heads of the relevant quality control services in Algeria, changes in the requirements for imported grain.” This is also demonstrated by recent articles in the Algerian media on the subject. Clearly, this situation in the press is certainly not pleasant for our sector, and each export market is particularly important. Companies will discover the reasons, whatever they may be, so that exports to this country can continue unhindered, ”says D. Ruščiauskienė.

Cereal producers: Lithuania’s shadow may fall

Ignas Jankauskas, head of the administration of the Lithuanian Cereal Producers Association, says that it is not yet clear which company would be responsible for the low quality imports.

“We are observing this situation with concern; international markets and international trade are very sensitive to this information. The shadow may fall on Lithuania”, worries I. Jankauskas.

However, he assures that the situation is ambiguous.

“The cereal trade is made up of a complete chain and the situation itself is quite strange. In this chain is the farmer, or producer, who produces the product. When he sells products to an exporter or middleman, quality tests are carried out during that sale. It is unknown how many intermediaries there are. But most of the grain is exported by ship; quality tests are also carried out during loading, this is the second time, “says I. Jankauskas.

Additional tests are carried out by unloading or loading the grain in warehouses.

“The grain is examined until it is loaded onto the ship, otherwise it would not be loaded. The main question is why those grains were not found to be different in the earlier parts of that chain. It is very difficult to say now who is the person responsible for this ”, says I. Jankauskas.

Explain that there are several parameters of grain quality: the absence of certain diseases is required, the amount of protein is measured, etc. I. Jankauskas would reject the version that it is possible that there are discrepancies in the quality parameters; exporters must know before shipping cargo.

“Lithuania has a deep tradition in the grain trade and is truly known to the world as a fair trader,” says I. Jankauskas.

30 thousand tons is not a very large quantity, according to the producer’s representative; 5,000 hectares would be needed to grow.

“Lithuania exports around 4 million tons. Algeria imports large quantities, which is not a very large quantity in terms of international trade,” says I. Jankauskas.

He assures that the competition in the grain trading market is extremely intense, he suspects that the scandal may also have arisen from dirty competition.