Egypt's main official wheat buyer said on Tuesday he had bought 300,000 tonnes of US and Australian wheat for April 1-10 shipment, sticking with the two suppliers that he has favoured this marketing year.
Mahmoud Abdel-Hamid, vice-chairman of the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), told Reuters he had bought:
60,000 tonnes of US soft white wheat from Louis Dreyfus at $152.95/tonne FOB for shipment from the US West Coast
180,000 tonnes of Australian standard wheat from the Australian Wheat Board at $153.00/tonne FOB. 60,000 tonnes of Australian hard wheat from the Australian Wheat Board at $164.80/tonne FOB.
Including on Tuesday's purchase, GASC has bought 4.46 million tonnes of wheat since the US marketing year began in June, of which 2.6 million tonnes was US wheat and 1.86 million was Australian wheat.
GASC, one of the world's biggest wheat importers, said on Monday it was seeking offers to buy US, French, Australian, Canadian and/or Argentine wheat for shipment in April.
Argentina, one of the world's top five wheat exporters, was included in the GASC list for the first time in many months. Traders said the move was probably aimed at pushing bids lower.
"It will put pressure on Australia, on US, on everybody, when they know Argentina will be in the bidding," said one trading source ahead of the tender announcement.
Traders said the lowest bid for Argentine milling wheat was $153.06/tonne, for loading mostly up river.
They said only one Canadian bid was received for eastern soft white wheat at $160.27, while no bids were received for French wheat.