HAMBURG: The lowest price in the first round of offers in the tender on Thursday from Turkey’s state grain board TMO to purchase about 385,000 tonnes of milling wheat was believed to be $376.00 a tonne c&f, traders said in initial assessments. No purchase has yet been made and initial tender results are expected later on Thursday, they said.

The offer was believed to have been made by trading house Aston for 25,000 tonnes of wheat already in warehouses in Turkey for delivery to the port of Tekirdag. Traders said some export houses have been shipping Russian wheat into Turkey in advance of actual sales to escape repeated increases in Russian export taxes.

This was followed by other offers including $380.00, $381.79 and $385.00 c&f, also including wheat already in Turkish warehouses. The milling wheat is sought for shipment between Jan. 10 and Jan. 31 in a series of consignments for unloading in the Turkish ports of Derince, Iskenderun, Mersin, Izmir, Bandirma, Tekirdag, Samsun, Trabzon and Karasu.

The tender continues an active period of grain importing by Turkey to cool local prices and secure supplies after a drought-damaged crop. In its previous wheat tender on Oct. 21, the TMO purchased an estimated 300,000 tonnes at a lowest price of $338.68 a tonne c&f.