The Ministry of Trade and Industry said there is no predisposition towards the Russian wheat in the tenders and bids of the Food Supply Authority, referring to a number of Russian wheat suppliers taking part in the tender, which results were announced yesterday. Assistant Trade and Industry Minister Hisham Ragab said competition was clear between the companies involved in the bid, through which the Authority bought 90,000 tons of American and French wheat that would be shipped August 1 to August 10. He told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the ministry ruled out all conditional offers that contravened the rules on tenders and bids put down by the Food Supply Authority, including a number of Russian companies that set certain conditions that the Authority rejected. The General Food Supply Authority said that the Food Supply Authority bought 60,000 tons of American wheat for US $188.99 per ton, and 30,000 tons of French wheat for US $189.50 per ton FOB. The Ministry of Trade and Industry last month announced new procedures to tighten control on the inspection and the quality of wheat, requesting suppliers to submit quality certificates approved by their respective governments. This caused a problem for the French wheat suppliers, as they have no such system that gives certificates for wheat shipments in France. The Authority also bought 6.5 million tons of wheat from abroad from the budget of 2007/2008, mostly from Russia, the United States and Kazakhstan, as well as small quantities from France and Canada.
