Russian traders cut prices and sold a large batch of wheat at a tender in Egypt

Russian wheat again won the tender in Egypt after the Russian authorities allowed traders to lower the minimum offer price from $270 to $260/t FOB. GASC also purchased Romanian and Bulgarian wheat, which was offered cheaper than Russian wheat.

Egypt's GASC held a wheat procurement tender on October 12, with bid prices at around $260/t FOB, compared with $260-270/t FOB at the previous auction on September 20. The cheapest offer was Bulgarian wheat with a price of $259/t FOB, Ukrainian grain did not participate in the bidding at all, the number of French wheat offers decreased sharply, and Russian wheat increased.

The following applications were submitted to the tender:

• from the Russian Federation – 23 (16 at previous auctions) lots at a price of $260/t FOB ($270/t at the tenders of September 20, August 30 and 22 and $262-275/t at the tender of August 8, 2023),
• from Romania – 3 (3) batches at a price of 261-263 (261-267.7 at auction on 09/20/23) $/t FOB,
• from Bulgaria – 3 (2) batches at a price of 259 and 263.77 (258.77 and 268 at the auction on 09/20/23) $/t FOB,
• from France – 3 (6) batches at a price of 262 (260.9-270 at the auction on 09/20/23) $/t FOB.

As a result, GASC purchased 470,000 t of food wheat for December 1-30 delivery at an average price of $277.62/t C&F, which is $5.6/t higher than the September 20 trade price, when a small batch of Romanian wheat was contracted.

In particular, the following lots were purchased:

• 300,000 tons of Russian wheat at a price of $260/t FOB + freight $17.65/t = $277.65/t C&F,
• 120 thousand tons of Romanian wheat at a price of $260/t FOB + freight $17.85/t = $277.85/t C&F,
• 60 thousand tons of Bulgarian wheat at a price of $257/t FOB + $20/t freight = $277/t C&F.