Egypt has imported 240,000 tonnes of wheat from France, Romania and Ukraine at an average price of $188.86 per tonne through an international bid held by the state’s General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), the supply ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The world’s largest wheat importer currently has reserves sufficient until 1 July, with the new shipments to be supplied to the local market by mid-April with inventory, the ministry added.

Half of the shipment is coming from France, while Romania and Ukraine are shipping 60,000 tonnes each.

Last month, GASC had to cancel an international wheat tender after being offered unsatisfactory prices by only four traders.

Confusion among international suppliers of wheat was ignited over Egypt’s policy on the presence of ergot fungus in its imported wheat after it rejected a 63,000-tonne French shipment that arrived in December.

During Egypt's wheat harvest season that begins in two weeks, the government said it would procure local supplies this year at the subsidised price of EFP 420 per ardeb (150 kg), after suspending its decision to replace the crop subsidy by a land subsidy of EGP 1,300 per feddan (roughly one acre) of wheat grown.

Egypt's wheat imports for the 2015/16 marketing year are estimated at 11 million tonnes, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation wrote in October 2015, "about the same as the previous year and the average for the last five years."