"That's a really crazy bug content threshold. No Romanian wheat can meet this requirement as the last period was marred by drought here, helping bug levels to pick up," the head of a large trading house told Reuters.

Other Western origins, including France, have an advantage "as they have generally benefited from favourable humid weather," said the trader. He said he expected Romania to harvest up to a 10 million tonne crop this year.

France, Algeria's main supplier, was expected to face competition to fill the order from Baltic and Romanian wheat, traders had said.