Nomani Nomani, vice chairman of the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), gave the following breakdown of the purchases:

-- 60,000 tonnes of Russian wheat from Olam International at $319 per tonne with freight costs of $11.64 per tonne -- 60,000 tonnes of Russian wheat from Aston at $320.94 per tonne with freight costs of $11.70 -- 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat from Ameropa at $323.38 per tonne with freight costs of $10.10

It was GASC's third international wheat purchase since the July 1 start of the 2012/13 fiscal year.

The purchase was also GASC's third in two weeks as the world's top wheat importing nation moved to secure supplies amid rising concerns about weather-shortened crops in key exporting nations including Russia and Australia.

GASC's last such purchase was on Aug. 14, when GASC bought 120,000 tonnes of Russian and Ukrainian wheat for Sept. 21-30 shipment.

During the 2011/12 fiscal year, GASC's purchases were also dominated by Black Sea origin wheat.

They included 3.24 million tonnes of Russian wheat, 180,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat, 360,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat, 60,000 tonnes of Russian, Ukraine or Kazakh wheat at the seller's option and 60,000 tonnes of Russian or Kazakh wheat at the seller's option.

GASC also bought 300,000 tonnes of French wheat, 300,000 tonnes of Argentine wheat, 530,000 tonnes of US soft red winter wheat and 60,000 tonnes of Canadian wheat in 2011/12.