July 13, 2007

 

India to import wheat from US if specifications met

 

 

India is prepared to buy wheat from the US provided it meets the existing quality specifications stipulated for the purchase in the tenders, a senior government official said Thursday (July 12).

 

Government-run trading company, State Trading Corporation (STC) of India, on Tuesday (July 10), purchased 511,000 metric tonnes wheat of mostly Canadian and Black Sea origins. STC, which imports wheat on behalf of the federal government, has purchased over 6 million tonnes in a little over 16 months but none from the US.

 

"As of now, there are no plans to relax rules relating to quality of imported wheat (to ensure US participation) but India has done its bit to ease procedures used to test quality," a government official told Dow Jones Newswires.

 

He said India hasn't barred wheat of any country to be purchased through its tenders and it is now for the selling companies to decide on the origin from which they will source the grain.

 

The official said most trading companies aren't optimistic of getting the mandatory quality certificate before shipment from the US authorities and are therefore sourcing wheat from elsewhere.

 

He said that Hamburg-based Alfred C. Toepfer International which sold 256,000 tonnes wheat to STC this week is expected to source the grain from Canada while Rias Trading that sold around 125,000 tonnes, may arrange the grain from Russia.

 

He said Cargill Inc. has sold 130,000 tonnes of wheat to STC and kept options for sourcing wheat open but in all likelihood it is likely to be from around the countries near the Black Sea.

 

The official said India during the course of recent talks with the US, suggested, that sieving and winnowing of US wheat will enable it to meet Indian norms on weeds.

 

He said norms on weeds are one of the contentious issues relating to possible import of US wheat by India.

 

STC tenders lists 31 types of weed seeds not present in Indian farmlands. According to tender rules, imported wheat shouldn't have more than an average 100 of these weed seeds for every 200 kilogram sample drawn from a single consignment.

 

He said that according to an assessment of the Indian government, around 21 types of weed seeds absent from India could be present in wheat of US origin. However, the US Department of Agriculture has assessed the number of such types of weeds at only four or five, he said.