Egypt's state grain buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), received offers on Saturday from 12 trading firms in its second wheat tender in less than a week and amid growing uncertainty over the country's local stocks. The lowest offer was $166.90 a tonne, free-on-board (FOB), for 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat. The tender is seeking wheat for August 21-30 shipment.
Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer, has seen its enormous grain purchasing programme disrupted over the past six months after different government agencies issued conflicting quality rules about ergot, a common grain fungus. A ministerial decree this week allowing the country's quarantine authority to follow international norms on ergot appears to have ended the stand-off, with trading firms that had sat out previous tenders amid the confusion making bids this week for the first time in months. Saturday's tender was held just four days after the GASC purchased 180,000 tonnes of Russian and Ukrainian wheat, a rapid return to the market that underscores recent questions over how much wheat is actually in the country's domestic stocks.