Egypt's GASC buys 180,000 tonnes Russian, French wheat

Thursday 11-12-2014 05:16 PM
Egypt's GASC buys 180,000 tonnes Russian, French wheat

Farmers check grain seeds as they harvest wheat crop in 6 October village in the Nile Delta province of Al-Baheira, northwest of Cairo May 22, 2014. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

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ABU DHABI, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Egypt's state grain buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), said on Thursday it had bought 180,000 tonnes of Russian and French wheat in a tender for shipment on Jan. 11 to 20.

Egypt, the world's biggest importer of wheat, bought 60,000 tonnes of Russian wheat from Vitol, 60,000 tonnes of Russian wheat from Bunge and 60,000 tonnes of French wheat from Soufflet, Mamdouh Abdel Fattah, GASC vice chairman, said.

The average price was $262.92 per tonne, on a cost and freight basis, he said.

A Cairo-based trader gave the following breakdown of the purchase:

- 60,000 tonnes Russian wheat from Vitol at $251.38 a tonne free-on-board (fob) and $11.38 a tonne freight

- 60,000 tonnes Russian wheat from Bunge at $252 a tonne fob and $11.38 a tonne freight

- 60,000 tonnes French wheat from Soufflet at $247.24 a tonne fob and $15.40 a tonne freight

Egypt has bought 2.605 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.

Supply Minister Khaled Hanafi has said Egypt aims to cut state imports of wheat in the next year to between 4 million and 4.5 million tonnes provided that reforms to the country's bread subsidy programme continue to reduce consumption and waste.

GASC has said that Egypt's strategic wheat reserve were enough to last until Apr. 1.

OFFERS

Traders said the following offers were presented in the tendering, in dollars a tonne, on a free-on-board basis, unless otherwise stated:

*Soufflet: 60,000 French at $249.74

*Glencore: 60,000 French at $250.10 from one port, 60,000 Russian at $261.30

*Lecureur: 60,000 French at $250.85 from two ports

*Vitol: 60,000 Russian at $251.38

*Cargill: 60,000 French at $252.50, 60,000 Russian at $257.50

*Nidera: 60,000 Agentinian at $252.50

*Bunge: 60,000 Russian at $253.87

*Louis Dreyfus: 60,000 Russian at $258.84, 60,000 U.S. soft red wheat at $277.30

*Nidera: 60,000 Russian at $259.25

*Ameropa: 60,000 Romanian at $261.16

*Glencore: 60,000 Russian at $261.30

*Noble: 60,000 Russian at $262

FREIGHT

Traders also said the following freight (ocean shipping offers) were made in the tender, in dollars per tonne:

Russia (Novorossiysk)

*National Navigation: $11.48

*Mina Dubai: $11.14

*Copa: $11.18

*Mina Egypt: $11.23

*Empros: $11.45

Russia (Taman)

*National Navigation: $12.48

*Mina Egypt: $12.19

*Mina Dubai: $12.40

*Copa: $12.45

Romania:

*National Navigation: $10.96

*Ameropa: $10.45

*Mina Dubai: $10.64

*Copa: $10.70

*Mina Egypt: $10.73

France (one port)

*National Navigation: $16.48

*Mina Egypt: $15.43

*Mina Dubai: $15.90

*Glencore: $16

*Copa: $16.05

U.S. Gulf

*Mina Egypt: $30.93

*Mina Dubai: $31.50

*Copa: $31.75

Argentina

*Mina Dubai: $29

*Copa: $29.65

(Reporting by Maha El Dahan; Additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Valerie Parent in Paris; Editing by David Holmes and William Hardy)

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