The Hindu Business Line : MMTC floats 50,000 t wheat import tender

New Delhi June 7 Barely a week after the scrapping of a 10-lakh tonne (lt) wheat import tender by the State Trading Corporation of India (STC), it is the turn of the other parastatal, MMTC Ltd, to float a tender for 50,000 tonnes.

Unlike STC, which was buying on behalf of the Food Corporation of India (STC), MMTC's tender is a purely commercial transaction for supply of wheat to domestic roller flour mills. The tender, which opens on June 19 with bids valid till June 29, gives MMTC the option to buy an additional 50,000 tonnes.

The delivery period has been specified for July-August, with preference for early shipment. The discharge ports given in the tender are Mundra or Kandla, Vizag and/or Chennai and/or Tuticorin.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the US commodity giant, Cargill, has booked at least one vessel of 35,000-45,000 tonnes of Black Sea origin wheat for delivery in Chennai and Tuticorin ports in September. The wheat, meant for private millers, is said to have been contracted for a price of $236 per tonne cost, insurance freight.

This is incidentally way below the $263 per tonne rate that STC had negotiated with Glencore and Alfred C. Toepfer for 3.06 lt out of the 10 lt that it has recently tendered for. The price was, however, rejected by the Food Ministry on grounds of being too high.

"The STC tender was floated very late in end-April, when there was very little wheat in the world market. Cargill's contract was around February and was, in fact, done in Indian rupees. Since the dollar was then Rs 44.50-45 and is now Rs 40.50, the landed price for the contract would currently be about $ 259 per tonne," sources said.

During 2006-07, the country imported roughly 63 lt of wheat, including 55 lt on Government account and the rest by the private trade. In the current fiscal, the Government is yet to import any grain, while the private trade has done about 30,000-40,000 tonnes mainly from Pakistan.

Shipments

"Pakistani wheat has been a disaster. Though imports got quarantine permits for over three lt, the actual shipments were hardly 10 per cent. Not only did the Pakistani authorities clamp down, but even the wheat that landed was over-fumigated and with lot of dust," the sources added.

Meanwhile, the Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, on Thursday, reiterated the Government's plans to import 50 lt of wheat between August and December. While noting that the present stocks position was sufficient to meet the requirements of the public distribution system, he said "we will still import to meet any crisis and build inventories for the future."

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