Egypt's GASC cancels tender to buy U.S. wheat due to high prices

Wednesday 18-02-2015 05:53 PM
Egypt's GASC cancels tender to buy U.S. wheat due to high prices

Wheat is seen in Toukh, El-Kalubia governorate, about 25 km (16 miles) northeast of Cairo, April 12, 2013.REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

By

ABU DHABI, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Egypt's state grain buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), said on Wednesday it had canceled a tender to buy U.S. origin wheat for arrival April 10-20

The prices offered were too high, Mamdouh Abdel Fattah, vice chairman of GASC said.

Egypt had been expected to tender for U.S.-origin wheat to make use of a $100 million credit line made available to it by the United States.

In Wednesday's tender, only four offers were made.

"The volume of U.S. wheat offered to Egypt was modest today considering the willingness of Egypt to buy from the U.S. and slack U.S. exports recently," one European trader said.

The trader said there was confusion about the terms of the tender as while GASC usually receives offers on a free-on-board basis, it had asked for offers for its U.S. origin tender on a cost and freight basis.

"Trading houses did not have the detailed terms in which offers would be accepted," he said.

(Reporting By Maha El Dahan; additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Valerie Parent in Paris; editing by Susan Thomas)

facebook comments