August 4, 2006

India receives 8 bids in 400,000 tonnes wheat import tender

Government-run State Trading Corp (STC) of India Ltd received eight bids ranging from US$210-239 a tonne, on a cost and freight basis, in its tender to import 400,000 tonnes of wheat, a senior company official said Thursday (Aug 3).

"No company has bid for the entire quantity. The largest volume has been offered by Cargill Inc at 340,000 tonnes," the official told reporters after the bids were opened.

The eight bidders are Cargill, Concordia, Glencore International AG, Agrico Trade and Finance, Agrocorp, AWB, Soufflet and Toepfer, the STC official said.

Australia's AWB has offered 220,000 tonnes of wheat with a plus-or-minus-5 percent margin of deviation, he said.

This is STC's fourth tender to import wheat in 2006. It has already ordered purchase of 3.5 million tonnes on behalf of the government at zero import duty.

The lowest bid was offered by Agrico Trade and Finance for 200,000 tonnes of wheat at around US$210-US$212/tonne.