Jordan defers wheat tender until July 17

Jordan defers wheat tender until July 17

Jordan has postponed a tender to buy wheat for a second time as it waits to see how grain markets react to the worst U.S. Midwest drought in nearly a quarter of a century.

July 8, 2012 4:28 by Reuters

Jordan has postponed a tender to buy wheat for a second time as it waits to see how grain markets react to the worst U.S. Midwest drought in nearly a quarter of a century.

It was looking to buy 100,000 tonnes of wheat on July 11 but has delayed until July 17.

“We are waiting until reports come out about the situation in the U.S. and to see how prices will be affected, and that is why we decided to postpone,” a source at the Ministry of Industry and Trade told Reuters by telephone on Sunday.

Jordan made no purchase in a July 4 tender for the same amount, with European traders citing a surge in Russian prices as the reason.

Traders had said at the time that the tender was postponed until July 11.

“We don’t expect that this rise in market prices will be long-lived or cause a serious long-term surge, like what happened in the food crisis of 2008, but we prefer to wait and see so we postponed the tender,” the source said.

Asian corn, wheat and soymeal buyers also stayed away from the market last week, postponing tenders as global grain and oilseed prices continued to rally with a worsening U.S. drought curbing supplies.

Although Chicago corn eased on Friday after recent steep gains, prices were set for their biggest three-week rally in three-and-a-half years due to the extreme weather.

(Editing by David Hulmes)