Indonesia has ample wheat for the festive season and will seek Indian supply only as a last resort, the head of an industry group said on Wednesday, dampening hopes that the major Asian buyer would take up exports from India.
Indonesia's wheat grain inventory is estimated at 1.5 million tonnes, enough for three months of consumption that includes the high-demand period during the Ramazan fasting month in August and Eid al-Fitr festivities, said Ratna Sari Loppies, executive director of the Indonesian Wheat Flour Mills Association.
"There's no supply problem ahead of Ramazan. Stocks are OK," Loppies told Reuters, adding that imports are expected to rise by 9 percent this year to 6 million tonnes versus 2010 and up to 10 million tonnes in 10 years. "Imports from India may be possible, but it's not a priority because of quality concerns. As far as I know, Indian wheat is not very good," Loppies said. She added that most companies have signed long-term contracts. "So it's not easy (to shift to Indian imports)," she said.
India has agreed to allow 1 million tonnes of common rice exports and an unspecified amount of wheat, government sources said on Monday, as it weighs managing millions of tonnes of grain stockpiles with fighting persistently high inflation. The head of India's grains exporters group dismissed criticisms over the quality of its wheat. "Here I'm not talking about a few cargoes, I'm talking about 10 million tonnes. There were no quality issues at all."
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