Sorghum exports banned

Sudan has outlawed exports of its staple food sorghum, the privately-owned ‘Al-Ayam’ newspaper reported on Monday. The daily quoted Ahmed al-Tigani Saleh, adviser to the foreign trade minister, as saying the ministry had ordered the ban because of a drop in sorghum reserves and an expected fall in output this season. It did not say when the ban had been imposed. The only exemptions, Saleh said, would be for exporters who had signed contracts prior to the ban. News reports said Sudan usually bans sorghum exports when there is a shortage of the commodity in the country or in a neighbouring country. In January 1996, a ban was imposed because of critical shortages in neighbouring Eritrea and Ethiopia. It was lifted in October, 1998, after a bumper crop. Farmers in Gedaref, the main sorghum growing district, were quoted as saying pests and poor rains had result in the loss of nearly three-quarters of the current crop. Sudan exports sorghum to Japan, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea and a number of European countries.