CAIRO, June 18 (Reuters) - Egypt’s food exports to Libya and Sudan will face increasing barriers after the introduction of new import duties and transport restrictions, the head of Egypt’s Food Industries Export Council said on Thursday.

Hany Berzy told Reuters Libya’s decision to impose a 10 percent import duty on Egyptian food commodities and Egypt’s decision to prohibit transfer of food products to Sudan via land was a double blow to the sector.

“Unfortunately, everyone is trying to introduce extra taxes to protect their local industries despite the fact that we have an Arab free trade agreement,” Berzy said, adding he did not know the exact reason Egypt restricted land transportation for commodities bound for Sudan.

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CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - The International Finance Corporation (IFC) will almost double its African agribusiness investments to $400 million by 2011, one of its senior investment officers said on Tuesday.

The IFC is the investment arm of the World Bank.

“We have 7.1 percent of our portfolio in agribusiness in Africa and we are looking to increase it significantly,” Washington-based Anup Jagwani told Reuters on the sidelines of an African agribusiness conference in Cape Town.

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Saudi Border

Todays Zaman, Turkey: Held up by rigorous customs procedures at the Saudi Arabian-UAE border, hundreds of Turkish trucks have joined in long queues waiting at the Al-Ghuwaifat border gate to enter Saudi Arabrabia

One of the biggest problems the truck drivers face is the hot weather, exceeding 50 degrees Centigrade and above seasonal norms. By last week, trucks in the queue numbered in the thousands.

The delays at the border have reportedly been happening for the past month; it is taking drivers up to 16 hours to move just two kilometers. Many say they have almost run out of food and drink and that they are finding it difficult to stand the heat.

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Eritrean Sky

IRIN yesterday reported on food security in Eritrea:

ASMARA, 12 June 2009 (IRIN) - Eritrea is facing a food crisis, but aid workers say they cannot fully determine its severity as they are unable to assess the situation because of travel restrictions and the government’s policy of “self-reliance”.

The rains have failed again this year, in what is one of the driest regions in Africa. One aid agency report said the country had produced only about 30 percent of its food requirements in 2008/09.

According to a recent report by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), rates of acute malnutrition in the northern provinces of Gash Barka and Anseba were above the emergency threshold of 15 percent; by February 2009, admission rates to therapeutic feeding centres were already two to six times greater than in 2008.

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