December 5, 2007

 

Australia's JK International awaits min ruling on bulk wheat exports

 

 

Australia-based international trading concern J.K. International Pty Ltd. is awaiting news on the fate of an application made to Australia's agriculture minister for a license to export bulk wheat, a person at the company familiar with the situation said on Wednesday (December 5, 2007).

 

J.K. International was one of two frontrunners in a tender issued Monday by India's state-run trading company PEC Ltd. to import at least 330,000 tonnes of wheat, which received six bids. PEC hasn't decided what volumes it will accept.

 

J.K. International offered the highest volume in the tender, around 250,000  tonnes.

 

The origin of the wheat in the tender isn't clear, but there is keen interest in the industry, given the tight global market and high prices.

 

The Australian Labor Party won office at a general election held November 24, ending 11.5 years of a conservative coalition rule.

 

The new ministry was sworn in on Monday.

 

Tonney Burke, the new agriculture minister, will deal with requests for bulk wheat export licenses as a matter of process, said a spokesman.

 

Burke is aware of the issue and wants to finalize export applications "as soon as he can," the spokesman said.

 

Before the general election, Labor pledged to accredit multiple exporters of bulk Australian wheat, but needs to change the law to do so.

 

The ousted conservative government authorized AWB Ltd. (AWB.AU) to be the majority exporter of bulk wheat from the current harvest.

 

Before the election, the former minister issued at least one other license covering the export of 500,000 tonnes of bulk wheat to Cooperative Bulk Handling Ltd. and was known to have many other applications awaiting consideration.