Egypt, the world's top wheat importer, said on Friday it had bought 175,000 tonnes of French and Russian wheat in a tender for shipment from Nov. 11 to 20. Of the total, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) bought 60,000 tonnes of French wheat from Soufflet and another 60,000 tonnes from Glencore, Mamdouh Abdel Fattah, vice chairman of the state grain buyer, said. GASC also bought 55,000 tonnes of Russian wheat from Glencore, Abdel Fattah said. GASC said it bought the wheat at an average price of $245.25 a tonne, cost and freight. Traders gave the following detailed breakdown of the purchase: - 60,000 tonnes of French wheat from Soufflet at $226.44 a tonne free-on-board and $16.96 a tonne plus $2.25 a tonne freight for shipment from two ports - 60,000 tonnes of French wheat from Glencore at $229.40 a tonne fob and $14 a tonne freight - 55,000 tonnes of Russian wheat from Glencore at $239.30 a tonne fob and $10 a tonne freight Egypt has bought 1.715 million tonnes of wheat on the international market since July 1, the start of the fiscal year, mostly from France and Russia but also from the United States, Romania and Ukraine. "The absence of offers of U.S. wheat to GASC is again striking," one European traders said. "France and Russia are also certainly still not out of the export sector despite expectations that they would pull over to the sidelines." The supply ministry has said its stocks had increased to six months' worth, to last until the end of 2014. Egypt purchased 5.46 million tonnes of wheat from abroad in the 2013-2014 fiscal year in addition to 3.7 million tonnes of local wheat. Supply Minister Khaled Hanafi said last week Egypt aimed to cut its state imports of wheat in the next year to between 4 million and 4.5 million tonnes provided reforms to the country's bread subsidy programme continue to reduce consumption and waste. Source: Reuters
