HAMBURG: The lowest price in the first round of offers in a tender on Tuesday from Turkey's state grain board TMO to purchase about 320,000 tonnes of milling wheat was believed to be $359.77 a tonne c&f, traders said in initial assessments.

No purchase has yet been made and initial results of the tender are expected later on Tuesday, they said.

The offer was believed to have been made by trading house Rolweg for 25,000 tonnes of wheat for delivery to the port of Samsun.

Milling wheat with 12.5% and 13.5% protein content is sought in a series of consignments to several Turkish ports between Feb. 1 and Feb. 28.

This was followed by other offers (all per tonne c&f) including $362.77 for shipment to the port of Derince, $366.00 for shipment to Iskenderun, $363.00 to Mersin, $373.50 to Izmir, $365.00 to Bandirma, $363.77 to Tekirdag and $363.77 to Trabzon, traders estimated.

The TMO traditionally holds several rounds of negotiations in its tenders, seeking lower prices each time.

Tuesday's 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 Nov. 25, Turkey bought about 385,000 tonnes at the lowest price of $376.00 a tonne c&f.