Egypt's main official wheat buyer said on Saturday he had bought 120,000 tonnes of Australian wheat for June 1-20 shipment.
Mahmoud Abdel-Hamid, vice-chairman of the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), told Reuters he had paid $162.90 per tonne FOB for hard Australian wheat from the Australian Wheat Board (AWB).
GASC, one of the world's biggest wheat importers, said on Friday it was seeking offers to buy 50,000 to 60,000 US, French, Australian, Canadian and/or Argentine wheat for the shipment period June 1-20, 2004.
Egypt has traditionally favoured wheat from the United States, a major aid donor to Egypt.
Including Saturday's purchase, GASC has bought 4.875 million tonnes of wheat since the US marketing year began in June, of which 2.775 million tonnes was US wheat and 2.1 million was Australian.