April 22, 2008

Four companies bid for India's latest wheat tender 

Four global trading firms have placed bids for India's latest wheat import tender with acall option, a trade source said Monday (April 21, 2008). 

The quantity offered by each firm and the price at which they are willing to sell were not immediately known.

"The bidders include Glencore, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus," said the source, declining to be named.

Call options allow a buyer to purchase a specified quantity of a commodity at a fixed price within a given timeframe.

National Collateral Management Services Ltd., an associate of the NCDEX, India's commodity and derivatives exchange, floated an open tender Saturday to import an unspecified quantity of wheat through State Trading Corporation.

Earlier this month, India had placed an order to import 180,000 tonnenes of wheat with a call option to Cargill International for US$406 a tonnene, cost and freight.

Last year, India imported 1.8 million tonnenes of wheat to augment its buffer stocks.