September 27, 2006

French wheat starting to reach India

There has been talk on the market that private buyers in India have purchased up to 200,000 tonnes of wheat from private sellers in France, despite high French wheat prices , traders in the industry said Tuesday (Sep 26).

Between 75,000 and 100,000 tonnes were sold for delivery to mid-October, a France-based trader said. He added that there is also a rumour that another 100,000 tonnes were sold from one or two private sellers without a confirmed delivery date.

"The sale is not fully known by the market," another trader said.

Export data from the French port of Rouen from Sep 1-20 showed 17,712 tonnes of wheat destined for India.

India is likely to be the world's largest importer of wheat in the year to March 2007. Input is expected to be around 8.5 million tonnes as a result of a fall in output this year.

India's private wheat imports between July and December 2006 are forecast around 1.1 million tonnes, flour millers in India said last week.

So far India's purchases have come largely from the Black Sea area, but traders said offers to sell wheat from the Black Sea region have dropped recently.