Algeria purchased a large shipment of Argentine wheat at a lower price than in December

On January 19, the Algerian state-owned company OAIS held a tender to purchase at least 50,000 tons of milling wheat of any origin, at which it purchased 720,000 tons of wheat at a price of $253-254/ton C&F, Reuters reports.

Traders believe that most of this volume will come from Argentina, where a record harvest was recently completed and wheat prices have fallen sharply. The rest will come from Black Sea production.

According to the terms of the tender, wheat of European or Black Sea origin must be shipped on March 1-15 and 16-31, and South American or Australian wheat must be shipped a month earlier.

Recall that on December 3, 2025, the Algerian state-owned company OAIC purchased up to 900 thousand tons of milling wheat, presumably of Russian or Argentine origin, at a tender at a price of $255-256/ton C&F with delivery in February 2026.

This tender confirms our expectations of increased competition on the world market from Argentine and Austrian wheat in the second half of the 2025/26 MY, which will increase pressure on the prices of Black Sea and European wheat, the export rates of which in the first half of the season are significantly lower than last year.