DHAKA: India's Emmsons International Limited made the lowest offer at $329.11 a tonne, including CIF liner out, in a Bangladesh tender that opened on Wednesday to buy 50,000 tonnes of wheat, a food official said.
Seven bidders took part in the tender, issued by the state grains buyer early this month as part of efforts to replenish government inventories.
The offer is $24.11 a tonne higher than in a previous tender that opened on Aug. 1, in which a domestic firm submitted the lowest offer of $305 a tonne.
Emmsons also secured another Bangladesh tender to supply a similar quantity of wheat at $309.11 a tonne.
Traders said the source for the wheat could be Black Sea region although Emmsons supplied more than 400,000 tonnes of wheat, mostly Australian, to Bangladesh in the year to June.
The government has turned to the wheat market after bulk buying of rice in the last fiscal year that ended in June, as prices slid after Russia and Ukraine resumed normal export flows.
On Tuesday, the government signed a memorandum to buy wheat from Ukraine but failed to reach any conclusion on an earlier Kiev offer to supply 100,000 tonnes to the South Asian country at $365 a tonne, which Bangladeshi officials said was high.
An official team from Ukraine is now visiting Bangladesh.
"The signing has created an opportunity to buy from them in a state-to-state deal," Ahmed Hossain Khan, director general of the state grains buyer, said.
"Their earlier offer has also been discussed, including price and other terms and conditions. But it will take time to strike the deal," he told Reuters on Wednesday.
Bangladesh, which buys around 3 million to 4 million tonnes of wheat a year, is likely to lead the way in Asia in switching to Black Sea supplies.
Bangladesh's imports of wheat and rice surged to 5.3 million tonnes in the last fiscal year, from 3 million the year before, putting additional pressure on its balance of payments.
Rice and wheat imports are likely to drop in the current fiscal year, but food officials and analysts said Bangladesh could emerge as a major buyer again if prices of the staples remain high in the domestic market or if any natural disasters cut output.
Copyright Reuters, 2011
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