KARACHI, Feb 25: Pakistani authorities said on Wednesday they were ready to re-examine two rejected Australian wheat cargoes of around 80,000 tons if a third shipment tested negative for any contamination.

The third shipment of Australian wheat is due on Thursday, three days after Pakistan rejected the two earlier cargoes - part of a 150,000 tons wheat import deal - saying they were contaminated not only by Karnal bunt fungus, but also by insects and sand.

Australia's monopoly wheat exporter, AWB Ltd, has challenged the Pakistan government assertion, saying that Karnal bunt disease was not found in Australia and that the grain was fit for human consumption.

Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan Howard Brown raised the issue with Agriculture Minister Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind at a meeting on Wednesday. "We have assured the Australian high commissioner that the sampling of the third cargo containing 35,000 tons of wheat would be done in the presence of their experts," said an agriculture ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We are ready to re-examine the two cargoes if the third shipment (meets) our specifications," he said. The official said Pakistan might ask for the replacement of the two cargoes if they again failed to meet their standards.

AWB Ltd says the wheat was loaded under the supervision of Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service and checked by Intertek Caleb Brett - a London-based testing, inspection and certification agency.

A government statement said the next shipment would be tested by representatives of the Australian Wheat Board, Australian High Commission, Pakistani agriculture ministry and Tradesman International, the importer.

A team of Australian analysts is arriving in Pakistan later on Wednesday to help examine the third shipment and the rejected cargoes. Tradesman International, a Pakistani firm, bought the grain from the Australian Wheat Board and sold it to the state-run Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Supplies Corporation at $224 per ton C&F.

After agreeing to buy 150,000 tons from the Australian Wheat Board through December's tender - its first imports in four years - Pakistan shelved plans for further imports after the agriculture ministry said it had enough stocks. -Reuters