UPDATE - Egypt's GASC buys 175,000 T of wheat from Romania, Ukraine

Wednesday 03-12-2014 08:24 PM
UPDATE - Egypt's GASC buys 175,000 T of wheat from Romania, Ukraine

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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By Maha El Dahan

ABU DHABI, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Egypt's state grain buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), said on Wednesday it had bought 175,000 tonnes of wheat from Romaniaand Ukraine in a tendering for shipment on Jan. 1-10.

Egypt, the world's biggest importer of wheat, bought 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat from Ameropa, another 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat from Bunge and 55,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat from Venus, Mamdouh Abdel Fattah, GASC vice chairman said.

The average price was $271.24 per tonne, on a cost and freight basis, he said.

Traders gave the following breakdown of the purchase:

-60,000 tonnes Romanian wheat from Ameropa at $260.17 a tonne free-on-board (fob) and $10 a tonne freight

-60,000 tonnes Romanian wheat from Bunge at $260.17 a tonne fob and $10 a tonne freight

-55,000 tonnes Ukraine wheat from Venus at $257.50 a tonne fob and $15.90 a tonne freight

Egypt has bought 2.425 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 vice president Mamdouh Abdel Fattah said on Wednesday that Egypt's strategic wheat reserve was enough to last until the first of April, according to state news agency MENA.

OFFERS

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

*Granit: 60,000 tonnes of French wheat at $259.97

*Alegrow: 60,000 tonnes of Russian wheat at $264.58

*Cargill: 60,000 tonnes of French wheat at $264

*Ameropa: 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat at $260.17

*Venus: 55,000 tonnes of Ukraine wheat at $257.75

*Louis Dreyfus: 55,000 tonnes of U.S. soft red winter wheat at $286.55

*Bunge: 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat at $262.47

*Glencore: 60,000 tonnes of French wheat at $258.45

*Vitol: 60,000 tonnes of Russian wheat at $264

FREIGHT

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

Romania

*National Navigation: $10

*Ameropa: $11

*Mina Shipping: $11.03

France

*National Navigation: $16.48

*Glencore: $16.75

*Mina Dubai: $16.95

Russia

*National Navigation: $11.27

*Mina Dubai: $11.36

*Mina Cuba: $11.51

Ukraine

*National Navigation: $16

*Mina Shipping: $16.03

U.S. Gulf

*Mina Shipping: $32.93

(Additional reporting by Valerie Parent in Paris and Omar Fahmy and Shadi Bushra in Cairo; Editing by David Evans, Greg Mahlich)

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