Saudi Arabia seeks to buy 715,000 tonnes of EU wheat

Saudi Arabia's state grains authority GSFMO has issued an international tender to purchase 715,000 tonnes of wheat, European traders said on Thursday. The kingdom has become a large importer of wheat since abandoning plans for self-sufficiency in the grain in 2008 because farming in the desert absorbed huge volumes of precious water supplies.
It aims to reduce agriculture steadily and plans to be completely reliant on imports by 2016. The tender deadline is Friday, June 20, traders said. Both hard and soft wheat was sought. The tender sought shipment of 385,000 tonnes of wheat to the port of Jeddah and 330,000 tonnes to Dammam, traders said. The wheat can be sourced from Europe, North and South America and Australia, at the sellers' option. Russian and other Black Sea region wheat generally does not qualify because of Saudi Arabia's demands for no bug (insect) damage in wheat.