Bunge has exploited the weakness of the euro to tender French wheat at below $170 a tonne, and join rivals Glencore and Nidera in winning trade from the latest Egyptian grain tender.

Egypt, the world's biggest wheat importer, accepted an offer from Bunge of 60,000 tonnes of French wheat at $169.40.

The wheat was the cheapest that Egypt's state grain authority, the GASC, has bought since September, and the lowest-priced French wheat it has purchased for at least a year.

It was also cheaper than the Russian wheat, offered at $170.17 a tonne and of comparable protein content, which made up the rest of the 300,000 tonnes that the GASC accepted.

Aggressive pricing

The French discount reflected both the greater transport costs involved in shipping wheat to Egypt from France rather than the Black Sea, and the ability of merchants to cash in on a euro which has tumbled by 10% against the dollar since early December, a City analyst said.

Invivo also offered French grain at less than $170 a tonne.

"The euro has been helping European merchants price a bit more aggressively," the analyst told Agrimoney.com.

"They can still give the same price to the grower, yet offer a reduced price on the export market."

The rouble, meanwhile, has strengthened, helped by the recovery in oil prices, and on Thursday hit its highest for 13 months against a dollar-euro basket.

Currency impact

The price offered by Bunge is equivalent to more than E124.50 a tonne at Thursday's exchange rates, more than E1-a-tonne above the price that March wheat was trading at in Paris.

At the exchange rates of early December, the price was equivalent to about E112 a tonne.

French wheat, which has now won a showing in two successive Egyptian wheat tenders, had been thought likely to make a smaller showing thanks to Cairo imposing tighter export restrictions.