CAIRO- Egypt's state grains buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), on Monday received a lowest offer of $237.94 a tonne for 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat on a free-on-board basis in a purchasing tender, traders said.
GASC sought an unspecified quantity of wheat for shipment Sept. 1-15 with payment using 180-day letters of credit.
The buyer recently amended its tender terms to allow companies to present freight offers alongside their wheat bids, and the first company to do so on Monday was GTCS.
GASC amended its tender book to allow suppliers loading cargoes at the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk to load 60,000 tonnes instead of 55,000 tonnes. Viterra and Olam, which both offered Ukrainian grain from that port, complied with the change.
At its last purchasing tender, GASC bought 180,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat.
"Romania's crop is expected to big and with spring grain crops also looking good, wheat needs to be sold now to clear out the expected stocks," a European trader said.
No purchase has yet been made but tender results are expected later on Monday.
Traders gave the following breakdown of the offers submitted in Monday's tender on a free-on-board (FOB) basis:
- GTCS 60,000 tonnes of Russian wheat at $240.00 and/or 55,000 tonnes of Russian wheat at $238.10. Freight offer for the above cargoes of $29.70 from Tuapse and $27.70 from Novorossiysk
- ADM 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat $242.85 and/or 60,000 tonnes of Russian wheat at $243.05
- LDC 60,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat at $246.00
- Cofco 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat at $242.40
- Cargill 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat at $241.23
- Solaris 60,000 tonnes of Russian wheat at $244.12
- Nibulon 60,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat at $245.00
- Grain Export 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat at $243.50
- CHS 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat at $240.14
- Agro AST 60,000 tonnes of Russian wheat at $245.00
- Ameropa 2*60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat at $240.79
- Posco 60,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat at $239.90
- Olam 60,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat at $239.45
- Viterra 60,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat at $239.94 and/or 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat at $237.94
Traders said the following were the most competitive offers presented at the tender including cost and freight:
-GTCS: 60,000 tonnes of Russian wheat at $240.00 and $27.7 freight equating to $267.70
-Viterra: 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat at $237.94 and $32.7 freight equating to $270.64
-CHS: 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat at $240.14 and $32.7 freight equating to $272.84
-Ameropa: 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat at $240.79 and $32.7 freight equating to $273.49
-GTCS: 55,000 tonnes of Russian wheat at $238.10 and $37.35 freight equating to $275.45
(Reporting by Nadine Awadalla and Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo and Michael Hogan in Hamburg; Editing by Kevin Liffey) ((Nadine.Awadalla@thomsonreuters.com;))
