Egypt's state grain buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), said on Tuesday it had bought 300,000 tonnes of Romanian and French wheat in a tender for shipment March 1-10. Egypt, the world's biggest importer of wheat, bought 120,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat from Ameropa and another 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat from Nidera, Mamdouh Abdel Fattah, GASC vice-chairman, said. Egypt also bought 60,000 tonnes of French wheat from Soufflet and 60,000 tonnes of French wheat from Lecureur. The wheat was purchased at an average price of $236.25 a tonne on a cost-and-freight basis, Abdel Fattah said. "It's the lowest selling price paid this season. It reflects the drop on the market and the need to diversify origins," one trader said. Traders gave the following breakdown of the purchase: -60,000 tonnes of French wheat from Soufflet at $220.94 a tonne free-on-board (fob) and $10.24 a tonne freight -60,000 tonnes of French wheat from Lecureur at $222.20 a tonne fob and $14.29 a tonne freight -60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat from Nidera at $230.50 a tonne fob and $7.74 a tonne freight -60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat from Ameropa at $230.25 a tonne fob and $7.44 a tonne freight -60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat from Ameropa at $230.25 a tonne fob and $7.44 a tonne freight GASC announced earlier on Tuesday it had not changed any specifications for the wheat it buys, indicating it would still accept French wheat offers with a moisture content of 13.5 percent. Last June GASC had said it would accept the elevated moisture levels with penalties for a period of nine months, after having previously only accepted wheat of up to 13 percent moisture. The period ended in February but GASC's latest comment indicates a renewal is imminent. Before Tuesday's purchase of Romanian wheat, the state buyer had been heavily relying on French wheat purchases since Russia announced informal curbs on its wheat exports. Russia, which has imposed grain export curbs for the third time since 2008, had been exporting record volumes from a large grain crop of 105 million tonnes before the limits. Egypt is one of Russia's main buyers and most vulnerable to supply disruption. Russian offers were absent in Tuesday's tender. Egypt has bought 3.625 million tonnes of wheat on the international market since July 1, the start of the fiscal year. It purchased 5.46 million tonnes of wheat from overseas in the 2013-2014 fiscal year in addition to 3.7 million tonnes of local wheat. Source: Reuters
