Russia threatened to ban Egyptian citrus imports on Tuesday as Egypt had failed to approve Russian wheat shipments since Egypt had imposed zero-tolerance on ergot regulation – a common grain fungus – in late August. Several wheat cargos suspected of containing trace levels of the fungus have since been held at Russian ports, awaiting a decision from Egypt – Russia’s top wheat buyer – over whether to allow them to pass under the old rule. Meanwhile, head of Russia’s food safety watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, said he is concerned about the systematic breach of international requirements in massive supplies of Egyptian citrus fruit set for export to Russia. The head of Egypt's agriculture quarantine said it had received no notification from Russia about such breach. Russia bought cUSD150mn of Egyptian citrus products in 2015, about 13% of its total citrus imports from across the world. (Reuters, Bloomberg, IFX)