HAMBURG: The lowest price offer in a tender from Iraq's state grains board for at least 50,000 tonnes of hard wheat was from Russia, an origin not permitted under the tender terms, European traders said on Tuesday.
The tender had requested wheat sourced only from the United States, Canada or Australia, they said.
No purchase was believed to have been made and negotiations continue.
The tender closed on Monday and was limited to a restricted number of trading houses with fewer companies than usual asked to offer.
The Russian wheat offer was $250 a tonne for up to 200,000 tonnes, but the precise terms were unknown, the traders said.
The lowest offer for a permitted origin was for US wheat at $258.17 a tonne c&f free out, they said. Other offers were made for US wheat between $261.86 and $268.83 a tonne c&f free out.
Optional US or Australian wheat was offered at $263 a tonne c&f liner out.
The lowest offer for Canadian wheat was $290.63 a tonne c&f free out and Australian wheat was offered at $320 a tonne c&f free out.
Liner out and free out have differing terms for cargo handling charges.
New purchasing terms with delayed payment was believed to have made exporters reluctant to participate in Iraq's previous wheat tender, with no purchase reported to have been made on April 3.
Traders said major rice and wheat buyer Iraq told them in March it would delay payments for their goods, making payments in instalments because of low oil prices and other financial factors.
Iraq had also received the lowest offers of wheat from the Black Sea region in a tender that ended without a purchase in late February despite the fact it only requested US, Canadian or Australian grain.
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