February 24, 2006
US hopes to export wheat to India
A recent 500,000 tonne wheat tender by India, has piqued the interest of US wheat trade and government officials.
India may import 1.5 million tonnes of wheat for 2006/07 according to USDA's Foreign Agriculture Service.
The international tender was India's first in six years, but the US has not exported wheat to India since 1993. At least one US company submitted a bid for the tender that closed Feb 20.
In the late 1990s India adopted regulations covering wheat diseases, insect pests and weed seeds that is common in wheat producing countries, including the US
As such regulations stifled participation in tenders, the US suggested collaborative discussions which pointed out that some of India's weed seed and wheat disease requirements are already present in India and others posed no significant threat.
Getting the tender would be anything but easy.
US hopes of exporting wheat to India were dampened after an Indian official disclosed that only one of eight bids received came close to meeting the technical and quality standards required.
