State grain buyer GASC buys 240k mt of Russian, Romanian wheat: The General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) purchased the grain for shipment in the second half of November at an average price of USD 320.51 per mn tonnes FOB and USD 351.61/mt CFR, according to Fastmarkets Agricensus. The transaction comes as high tariffs on exports impact the Russian grain trade and imperil one of the main supply lines for Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer. That said, we have been relying less on Russian wheat, which accounted for just 20% of all Egyptian imports by August this season, marking a seven-year low, according to Bloomberg data.

Other things we’re keeping an eye on this morning:

• The National Telecoms Regulatory Authority is launching tenders to licensed companies to set up mobile phone towers expected (pdf) to cost some EGP 324 mn to cover five main highways connecting between Ismailia, Suez, El Wadi El Gedeed, Aswan, Beni Suef, Minya, and Giza.
• Orascom Construction will build a 525 MW solar plant in Iraq as part of a consortium with Norway’s Scatec and a private Iraqi company, according to an Iraqi Oil Ministry statement picked up by Reuters on Thursday.
• The executive regulations for a law regulating the manufacturing and collection of plasma were issued on Thursday, Youm 7 reported.