Egypt buys 240,000 tonnes of Russian wheat

Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer, has bought 240,000 tonnes of Russian wheat for December 11-20 shipment, the main government wheat buyer said on Thursday. Nomani Nomani, vice chairman of the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), gave the following breakdown of the purchases: -60,000 tonnes from Louis Dreyfus at US$261.44 a tonne with freight costs of $15.63 -60,000 tonnes from Aston at $263.25 a tonne with freight costs of $15.63 -60,000 tonnes from Nidera at $263.25 a tonne with freight costs of $15.70 -60,000 tonnes from Bunge at $263.25 a tonne with freight cost of $15.70 GASC received an offer of Ukranian wheat in the tender but it was disqualified as the tender announcement had not asked for that origin, Nomani said. Since the start of the 2011/12 fiscal year on 1 July, GASC has purchased 2.22 million tonnes of Russian wheat and 180,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat. In the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2011, GASC purchased some 5.58 million tonnes of French, U.S., Canadian, Australian and Argentine wheat.