Wheat buyers in Asia are looking to replace Indian and Australian cargoes in the lower-end feed grain market with cheaper supplies from the Black Sea region but some importers such as Indonesia are also looking to substitute milling wheat.
"They have booked some cargoes from Russia for blending with higher quality Australian and U.S. wheat," said one trader in Singapore who was aware of the deals.
"But we are not sure how the millers will react to the quality as they are not used to taking Black Sea wheat for milling."
Russian milling wheat with 12 percent protein was sold below $300 a tonne, including cost and freight, for shipment in August. This compares similar variety of Australian prime wheat being offered $345 a tonne.
Thailand booked 45,000 tonnes of U.S. wheat this week for August and September delivery. The shipment will contain northern spring, soft white and hard red winter varieties of wheat, traders said.
Thailand and the Philippines, which typically meet a bulk of their milling wheat requirement from the United States, are unlikely to change origin.
But for feed wheat, the market is expecting Thailand and the Philippines to take some 2.0 million tonnes from the Black Sea region in the year to June 2014.
In South Korea, Daehan Flour Mills bought 30,000 tonnes of Canadian milling wheat for September arrival via a tender which closed on Friday.
And CJ Cheiljedang Corp is seeking 15,000 tonnes of Australian milling wheat for October arrival in a tender which closes later on Friday.
The market is keeping a close watch on Japan and South Korea, which have banned imports of western white wheat after the discovery of unapproved genetically engineered wheat in the United States.
