Algeria’s OAIC books up to 630kt milling wheat at $313/mt

Algeria’s state importer has booked up to 630,000 mt of milling wheat for February-March shipment in a tender that closed Wednesday, traders have told Agricensus.

Office Algerien Interprofessionnel des Cereales (OAIC) booked between 570,000 mt to 630,000 mt of wheat in the deal, paying between $312/mt CFR and $314/mt CFR.

Further information on sellers and precise volumes was not available at time of press.

OAIC had initially issued the tender looking for optional origin wheat for March shipment or for February if Australia or South America was the supplier.

At its last tender, which closed January 20, OAIC purchased up to 390,000 mt of milling wheat for February 1-28 shipment at $313-$314/mt CFR.

The USDA expects Algeria’s wheat imports to drop by 9% to 6.5 million mt in the 2020/21 marketing year as the country tries to reduce dependence on imported wheat and encourage domestic production.

Details of previous OAIC wheat purchases can be found on the Agricensus Tender Dashboard.