Egypt's state grain buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), negotiated lower prices with suppliers for a tender to buy wheat in Egyptian pounds from inventories already in the country, Cairo-based traders said on Sunday. Offers for Russian wheat were lowered to 1,970 Egyptian pounds ($258.22) a tonne while those for Ukraine wheat were at 1,940 pounds a tonne, traders said. Offers had previously been between 2,180 pounds and 2,050 pounds a tonne for Russian wheat and 2,000 pounds a tonne for Ukraine wheat. Results for the tender, which GASC announced on Feb. 12 are expected Monday. "We believe GASC is in need of these quantities and so they will make a purchase," one Cairo-based trader said. Traders had said delivery of the wheat would be from March 15 to 31. The offers made to GASC in the tender are as follows: -Louis Dreyfus: 50,000 tonnes of Russian wheat -Union (Al Wehda): 25,000 tonnes Russian, 15,000 tonnes Ukraine -White Flour: 10,000 tonnes Russian -Alex Grain: 10,000 tonnes Russian GASC said on Feb. 5 it could tap the local Egyptian wheat market to buy Black Sea grain in Egyptian pounds in an attempt to prevent smuggling of wheat during the local procurement season. The Egyptian government annually fixes a local procurement price for Egyptian wheat that is above global prices in an attempt to encourage farmers to grow the crop. But the high price has led to a smuggling business in which traders sell the government foreign wheat, mostly Russian, falsely labelling it Egyptian. GASC has said it would try to buy the Russian wheat off the market before the local season starts. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/124203.aspx
