"This was direct purchasing without a tender being issued," one European trader said. "We did not know anything about it before it was reported on Reuters." GASC was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday. GASC had cancelled to previous international tenders to buy 55,000 tonnes of white sugar on December 10 and December 21. Traders said that only one supplier submitted an offer in each of the cancelled tenders.
"One offer is not sufficient to constitute a tender and GASC has been struggling to attract more offers," another European trader said. "I suspect a decision was made to undertake a direct, non-tender purchase." "We do not have the details but my feeling is that GASC may well have paid more in the private deal than in an international tender," the trader said.