December 6, 2005

Australia's AWB considers further wheat sales to Pakistan

Australian wheat exporter AWB Ltd. would consider making further sales to Pakistan if the price is right, company spokesman Peter McBride said Tuesday.

"We'll continue to do business with Pakistan," he said when asked about the possibility of AWB making fresh sales despite running into trouble with a previous contract.

AWB would consider the terms and conditions of any new Pakistani tenders and submit a price supportive of the collective national sales pool, he said.

AWB has supplied wheat to Pakistan despite an incident early in 2004, he said, when Pakistan rejected four cargoes of Australian wheat over unproven allegations they were contaminated with karnal bunt fungus.

McBride was commenting after Najib Balagamwala, chief executive of Seatrade Group, a leading Pakistani private sector importer, said wheat imports would likely reach 800,000 tonnes by the end of the year.

Orders for about 650,000 tonnes have been finalised, with orders for another 150,000 tonnes expected to be placed for shipment during the next two to three months, he told Dow Jones Newswires Monday.

Pakistan is unlikely to meet the wheat production target this crop year because of late sowing in the southern Sindh province, he said.