Wheat prices jump as GASC books 300k mt at tender

Prices spiked as Egypt’s state grain buyer returned to the market on Wednesday, with origin levels out of the Black Sea up $10/mt since it was last in the market a month ago, according to results seen by Agricensus.

General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) paid an average of $232.23/mt FOB and $245.71/mt CFR for 300,000 mt of Romanian, Russian, and Ukrainian milling wheat at Wednesday’s tender.

Sellers included Ameropa, Cofco, Garant Logistik, Grain Export, and LDC.

At its previous tender in mid-December, GASC bought 355,000 mt from origins including France, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine at an average of $222.44/mt FOB and $238.19/mt CFR for delivery February 5-15.

With freight costs falling since the previous tender, market sources pointed to a futures rally through December as the main reason driving prices higher.

Egypt is the biggest wheat buyer in the world, importing around 12.5 million mt of wheat a year, with GASC's purchases amounting to around half of that volume, according to the USDA.

Details of previous GASC buying can be found on the Tender Dashboard.