Algeria's state grains agency OAIC bought at least 350,000 tonnes of optional-origin milling wheat in a tender this week as the major importer took advantage of a pullback in prices, European traders said on Thursday. In the tender that closed on Tuesday, OAIC paid $340.50 and $341 a tonne, including cost and freight, for the wheat, with the price depending on the shipping period and also the volume sold, the traders said.
Shipment was due in the second half of September and in October, they said. The sale price was well below the $348 reported by traders in OAIC's previous purchase last week. "They took advantage of a decent window," one export trader said. The latest milling wheat purchase is the third in as many weeks by the agency, with traders saying it was struggling to obtain the volumes it wanted after a surge in international grain prices and doubts about wheat quality in France, its main supplier, where rain has affected the harvest.
The past week has also seen two purchases by Egypt, the world's top wheat importer, which were seen as an effort to secure competitive wheat from Russia before the country's drought-hit crop runs out. As in the other Algerian tenders so far this season, French wheat was tipped to claim most of the sale, especially after harvesting has accelerated in France with signs of reasonable quality, despite some mixed results in northern areas.