Bangladesh said on Tuesday it had not awarded a tender to buy 50,000 tonnes of white sugar for shipment in September. "As the authorities did not award the job on the schedule by Monday, the tender has automatically been scrapped," said a senior official at the state-owned Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation.
A decision was not made by the cabinet purchase committee, which did not discuss the issue at a recent meeting, he said.
The corporation floated the tender in late July and was scheduled to award the job by Monday, officials said.
They said the corporation announced that E.D. & F Man Sugar Ltd and Sucre Export London were responsive after Cargill, which made the lowest offer at $336 per tonne C&F for the tender, declined to change its terms.
The tender called for the sugar to be delivered at Chittagong port in two equal consignments of 25,000 tonnes on September 20 and September 24.
Officials of the industry ministry gave no clear reason for the indecision.