B’desh wheat cargo rejection spooks sellers

Bloomberg

Some wheat traders are steering clear of Bangladesh’s tenders to import the grain after the nation rejected three cargoes earlier this year.
The country’s Directorate General of Food received only two offers in a tender to buy 50,000 metric tons of wheat, Ilahi Dad Khan, director of procurement at the agency, said by phone from Dhaka.
It had six offers in a January deal, two traders familiar with the matter said at the time.
Trading companies have become wary of selling after the Asian country turned away three vessels carrying Russian supplies bought in previous tenders, blaming issues with weight and amounts of foreign material.
The incidents mirror disputes in Jordan in 2015 and Egypt earlier this year, which led to reduced participation in tenders and made it harder for the nations to import.
“Everybody is very careful after three rejections of Russian wheat,” Khan said.
“I am not concerned about the declining number of bidders. I need one and this time I got two.”
Russian trader Aston offered to supply wheat to Bangladesh at $233.89 a ton and Phoenix Commodities also wanted to sell, Khan said.
In January, Bangladesh got offers from those two companies as well as Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., Olam International Ltd., Agrocorp International and Daewoo International.

Rejected Cargoes
Bangladesh rejected a cargo of 50,000 tons from Dubai-based Phoenix in March and a shipment from ADM was also turned away this month.
In total, Bangladesh deemed 150,000 tons of Russian wheat as unacceptable, based on specification rules.
Jordan has struggled to buy wheat since rejecting a cargo of Polish grain last year, and has several tenders canceled. It’s been considering adjusting its tender terms to attract more participants.
Egypt, the the world’s largest wheat importer, canceled several tenders earlier this year after turning away a cargo of French grain supplied by Bunge Ltd.
The standoff led to the nation having to reassure traders over the levels of a naturally occurring fungus that it would
accept.
“Bidders may think if they supply it from Russia, it may again be rejected,” Khan said, referring to the offers. “With that apprehension in mind, they might have stayed away.”