Saudi Arabia’s SAGO picks up 1 million mt wheat for April-June 2023

Saudi Arabia’s state grain importer has bought just over 1 million mt of milling wheat in its sixth tender of the current year, booking almost twice the volume it initially tendered for, the company said Monday.

Saudi Arabia Grain Organization (SAGO) had initially been looking for 595,000 mt of wheat in ten shipments for supply between April and June 2023.

SAGO said it had bought wheat of EU, North and South American, Australian and Black Sea origins from seven suppliers, with prices understood to have ranged from $374.25-390.59/mt.

This included a total of 16 cargoes, including five for Jeddah Islamic Port with a quantity of 321,000 mt, six cargoes for Yanbu with a quantity of 378,000 mt, four cargoes for King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam with a quantity of 255,000 mt, and one vessel for Jazan Port with a quantity of 55,000 mt. 

According to trade sources, Cargill sold the biggest volume with 260,000 mt, followed by Olam with 195,000mt, Holbud with 189,000 mt, Agricost with 180,000 mt, Bunge and ADM with 65,000 mt each, and Viterra with 55,000 mt.

SAGO said it had also completed local wheat purchases for this season, picking up 538,436 mt in total.

The latest purchase brings SAGO’s total bookings though tenders and private buying in 2022/23 to over 4 million mt, more than 1 million mt more than the amount estimated by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

For more information on Saudi Arabia’s buying, please see the Agricensus Tender Dashboard.