January 5, 2005

AWB Beats US To Pakistan Wheat Deal

Australia's monopoly wheat exporter AWB has won the lion's share of a 400,000 ton tender from Pakistan's Government, beating out competition from the US despite the strength of the Australian dollar.

AWB said it had won a contract to supply 250,000 tons of white wheat to Pakistan, worth about $65 million, while the remainder was to be sourced from Canada.

Private US wheat brokers bidding for the tender were unable to match the price offered by AWB despite the value of the US dollar having fallen as much as 13 per cent against the Australian dollar since September.

World wheat sales are generally conducted in US dollars, but AWB's currency hedging program has allowed it to remain competitive.

"As with any exports, a rise in the Aussie dollar does affect us, but our hedging and risk program has allowed us to minimise that," AWB spokesman Peter McBride said.