Egyptian authorities have seized a batch of Russian wheat because it fails to meet quality standards, according to a report, threatening to reignite tensions between the two countries over quality issues.

Egyptian import control officials claimed that a 61,000-tonne shipment of Russian wheat, worth some $12.6m, contained more spoilt grain and insects than allowed by quality criteria, according to the Al Masry Al Youm newspaper.

The importer of the grain has asked for the grain to be released, promising to pay for the sifting needed to bring it up to Egyptian standards, according to the report, which Agrimoney.com has been unable to verify.

The alleged seizure follows a tightening of Egypt's wheat import rules, demanding testing of every 2,500 tonne batch.

"One batch failure will mean a quality allowance on the whole cargo, but two batch failures will mean the whole cargo will be rejected," Gleadell, the UK grain merchant, said.