Saudi Arabia buys 621,000 metric tons of wheat in tender, GFSA says
The purchase involved hard wheat with 12.5% protein content.
Origins offered were the European Union, Black Sea region, North America, South America and Australia with the sellers having the option of selecting the origin supplied, GFSA governor Ahmad Al-Fares said in a statement.
Traders said they expected the wheat in the purchase to be mainly sourced from the Black Sea region including Russia, Romania and Bulgaria.
The purchase was smaller than the 655,000 tons sought in the tender. Traders said the agency had recently also been seeking wheat sourced from Saudi investments abroad in farmland and trading companies following similar purchases last year.
The GFSA said the following purchases were made all in dollars a ton cost and freight (C&F) included with the trading houses making sales and the port and arrival period in Saudi Arabia:
Jeddah Sea Port (C&F):
- 60,000 tons from Louis Dreyfus at $251.99 C&F (August 15 - 31)
- 60,000 tons from AST Group (Grain Star) at $252.00 C&F (August 15 - 31)
- 60,000 tons from Solaris at $252.27 C&F (September 1 - 15)
Yanbu Sea Port (C&F):
- 65,000 tons from Viterra at $247.69 C&F (August 15 - 31)
- 65,000 tons from Agricost at $251.98 C&F (August 15 - 31)
- 65,000 tons from Viterra at $248.73 C&F (September 1 - 15)
- 65,000 tons from Viterra at $249.94 C&F (September 15 - 30)
- 65,000 tons from Viterra at $252.42 C&F (October 1 - 15)
Dammam Sea Port (C&F):
- 58,000 tons from Louis Dreyfus at $254.79 C&F (August 15 - 31)
- 58,000 tons from Louis Dreyfus at $256.29 C&F (September 15 - 30 )
In its last reported wheat tender on February 17, the GFSA purchased about 920,000 tons at an average price of $276.37 a ton C&F.
(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Michael Hogan in Hamburg, Editing by Louise Heavens)
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