Global trading firms have offerred to supply wheat against a 350,000 tonne Indian import tender in the price range of $397-$487 per tonne, and Cargill has emerged as the lowest bidder, trade sources said on Monday.
Trading company Rias was the highest bidder among the eight firms that expressed an interest in the MMTC tender, the sources, which could not be named, said. Government officials have said actual imports would depend on the prices offered. Toepfer, Glencore and AWB also bid.
India has tied up import contracts for 1.3 million tonnes so far this year with the last deal in September struck at a weighted average price of $389.45 per tonne. The new tender is for delivery by February 10, 2008, through eight ports Mundra, Kakinada, Kandla, Chennai, Vishakhapatnam, Tuticorin, Cochin and Mumbai.
The government has given permission to three state-run firms to import a total of up to one million tonnes of wheat. PEC Ltd and the State Trading Corporation are to follow MMTC with import tenders of their own, once the quantities under the MMTC tender are finalised.
Shipments are expected to be tied up for between December and March 2008. Last month, the government raised the price it would pay local wheat farmers next year to 1,000 rupees ($25.4) per 100 kg from 850 rupees to encourage planting. In 2006, India, the world's second-biggest wheat producer, imported the grain for the first time in six years, buying 5.5 million tonnes as prices flared due to a poor crop.