Jordan bought 150,000 tons of US origin hard wheat for March/April shipment at $382 a ton C&F to raise stockpiles and hedge against further price increases, a grains official told Reuters on Thursday. The official said the quantities were bought from Louis Dreyfus which offered by far the lowest price among the major global suppliers who submitted offers in Thursday's tender for 100,000 tons. Jordan at first bought 100,000 tons from Dreyfus and decided to buy an extra 50,000 tons from the same supplier after it could not get the second lowest bidder ADM to lower its offers beyond $386 per tonne C&F, traders said. One 50,000 tonne cargo was for shipment in the second half of March and two 50,000 tons each to be delivered for first half and second half of April. Traders said most of the offers submitted by major traders in Thursday's tender were US origin wheat — at least $40 lower than Australian wheat on offer. "American origin is the only source available with the quality Jordanians want and the other main source available which is Australian is price prohibitive to make it competitive," Tony Mudallal, a senior director at Midgulf commodities trading group. Grain officials said the kingdom was stepping up grain purchases to raise stocks to at least eight months supply levels and ensure bread subsidies are not touched as food security concerns mount with higher commodity prices. "We are keeping stocks to levels of eight months consumption," said Maha Ali, secretary general of Jordan's ministry of industry and trade in charge of government purchases of subsidized wheat.
