Sudan approves farm imports ban from Egypt

Sudan’s cabinet has approved a ban on importing agricultural and animal products from Egypt, according to Sudan’s state news agency SUNA.

The cabinet on Tuesday urged the private sector to import products directly from countries of origin, bypassing Egypt. No reason was announced for the move.

Ahmed Abu Zeid, the spokesman for Egypt’s foreign ministry, said Cairo was told the decision was due to “a technical procedure”.

Sudan banned all Egyptian agricultural goods in March.

Foreign firms have been caught in the crossfire. Saudi Arabia’s Savola Group has had to re-route much of its Egypt-based sugar output that it usually sells to Sudan. Savola imports raw Brazilian sugar and refines it in Egypt for export.

“The volumes going there are about 20,000 tonnes a month, but now, unfortunately, this looks like it will be stopped indefinitely,” a source at the company said.

The neighbours have been at odds over issues that include a long-running dispute over land on Egypt’s southern border with Sudan, as well as trade restrictions and burdensome visa requirements that have threatened commercial relations.

Sudan this month accused Egypt of supporting rebels who it says want to topple the government in Khartoum. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi rejected the charge.

Trip cancelled

Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour was due to visit Egypt this week to discuss the trade dispute and other issues, but the trip was postponed for a week, Abu Zeid told Reuters news agency.

Amany al-Taweel, African affairs expert at the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, blamed political and other differences for Sudan’s decision.

Sudan’s economy was shaken by the 2011 secession of the south, which had been its main oil producing region. With 40 million people, Sudan is half the size of Egypt whose population is 92 million. Egypt also has a much bigger industrial base.

Sudan imported about $591m worth of goods from Egypt in 2016, most of which were food items such as vegetables, fruit and biscuits, Ahmed Hamid, a director at Sudan’s ministry of international cooperation, has said.