Egypt buys more Romania wheat despite rain concern

Egypt extended its strong start to wheat buying for the new crop year with a 240,000-tonne order from Romania, an unusually large order from a single origin, despite lingering concerns over the impact of rains.

Egypt's Gasc grain authority - at its second purchase in the first nine days of the 2014-15 crop year - purchased all its requirement from Romania, despite competitive bids from other origins.

Indeed, the cheapest offer – excluding freight – was of Ukraine wheat, priced by merchant Venus at $248.87 a tonne.

French wheat was also offered below $250 a tonne, and cheaper than some of the winning Romanian lots, being priced by Soufflet at $249.50 a tonne.

However, Romanian origin scooped the $63m order thanks to the lower shipping charges from its Black Sea ports to Egypt, the top wheat importing country, some as low as $9.99 a tonne, compared with $16.49 a tonne from Ukraine and at least $17.50 a tonne from France.