Egypt's main government wheat buyer said on Tuesday he had cancelled a tender announced on Monday, with US grain traders citing high prices as the reason. Said el-Hefny, vice chairman of the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), did not give a reason for scrapping the tender.
GASC last cancelled a tender on January 8, citing prices that were "not appropriate." Chicago wheat futures have risen 16 percent since the beginning of the year, after rising as much as 30 percent on Monday during volatile trading that set new record highs before the market turned lower.
Egypt's GASC was offered 330,000 tonnes of in-country wheat. The cheapest bid was 2,444.40 Egyptian pounds per tonne ($444.44) with most bids over 2,500 pounds ($454.55), traders said. In its last purchase on February 6, GASC paid 2,355.55 to 2,398 Egyptian pounds ($428.28 to $436).
In addition to in-country wheat, GASC was offered 567,000 tonnes on free-on-board (FOB) terms, including 230,000 tonnes of US wheat. US soft red winter wheat was offered at $414.65 per tonne and US hard red winter wheat was offered at $445.90 per tonne.
GASC had sought 55,000 to 60,000 tonnes of US, French, Australian, Canadian, German, Argentine and/or Kazakhstan wheat for shipment March 11-31 on a free-on-board basis.
GASC had also sought 30,000 to 60,000 tonnes of Russian wheat, UK milling wheat or Syrian wheat, also on an FOB basis. He had also asked for a minimum of 25,000 tonnes of in-country wheat of the same origins for delivery April 10-30.
Egypt is one of the world's leading wheat importers, usually buying more than 6 million tonnes a year. Since the start of the fiscal year on July 1, Egypt has bought at least 4.805 million tonnes of wheat, mostly from Russia and the United States.