US wheat futures initially found support before slipping away late in the session. It was rumoured US wheat was the cheapest on offer in last night’s Egyptian business. France was reported to have claimed the business though with a total of 360kt sold at an average price of US$262.77. This is down a couple of dollars on the last purchase but more important is the fact this was the first French wheat to be sold to Egypt in 18 months.
Recent amendments to payment terms has resulted in lower tender values as the cost of carry is expected to be much less. So when comparing apples with apples the value is probably flat to firmer when considering this.
Although the US offer was said to be the cheapest at US$243 / tonne as usual the US struggles with freight rates to the Middle East.

In another tender Jordan picked up 60kt of lower grade milling wheat for US$271.50 CFR, this is about US$4.00 higher than the previous tender a couple of weeks ago. US trader CHS was said to have secured this business. With freight from the US currently costing about US$28.00 / tonne to Egypt that would make it highly likely that US HRW will move from the Gulf to Jordan for this tender.

The USDA is expected to release weekly sales data on Thursday, US time. This will be interesting and will confirm if the US has actually made more or less sales than the punters expected so far during the shutdown.