CAIRO: Egypt s main wheat importer bought 230,000 tons of U.S. and Canadian wheat on Saturday for shipment between July 16 and 31, a company official said. Sayed El-Hefny, vice-chairman of the government s General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), gave the following breakdown of the purchases (all prices FOB): -- 55,000 tons of eastern Canadian soft red from Dreyfus at $131.65 per ton. -- 55,000 tons of U.S. soft red from Perdue at $134.50 per ton. -- 60,000 tons of U.S. soft white from Cargill at $139.25 per ton. -- 60,000 tons of U.S. soft white from Columbia Grain at $139.25 per ton. GASC had sought tenders for 55,000 to 60,000 ton cargoes of U.S., French, Canadian, Australian and/or German wheat. It had said it was also interested in 30,000 or 60,000 tons of Russian and/or U.K. milling wheat for shipment at the same time. Including Saturday s purchase, GASC has bought 4.57 million tons of wheat at international tender since Egypt s financial year began on July 1. It was the first big international tender by GASC since late April because Egyptian farmers have been delivering their own domestically produced wheat for the last few months. In the 2004/05 financial year, GASC bought at least 5.56 million tons of wheat, mostly at international tender. Egypt has a population of more than 73 million and is one of the world s biggest wheat importers. Reuters
