State trading firm PEC Ltd has received the highest bid of $305.10 a tonne from the Dubai-based Al Ghurair for export of 40,000 tonnes wheat from Government stocks through the Kandla Port.

For PEC’s other two tenders for shipments from Gangavaram and Krishnapattanam, it has received offer from Singapore-based Concordia at $303.10 and $301 for 30,000 tonnes and 40,000 tonnes, respectively.

Among the bids opened by the three State trading entities – MMTC, STC and PEC — in the past three days, PEC got a better response compared with the other two.

On Wednesday, STC received the highest bid of $304.5 from Sudan’s Promising International Trading Co, while on Tuesday MMTC was forced to cancel its tender for one lakh tonnes as the offer price it received from Gencore was much lesser than the floor price of $300 fixed by the Government.

Interestingly, Glencore quoted a higher price of $303.37 for PEC’s Kandla tender on Thursday, while for STC’s tender on Wednesday, the Anglo-Swiss firm was the second highest bidder at $301.87 for 50,000 tonnes. Other bidders for PEC’s Kandla contract include Emmsons International at $303.89 and Condordia at $294.25.

The State trading entities have been floating export tenders to ship out wheat from Government stocks since July 2012.

In the last financial year, these entities were expected to have shipped out around three million tonnes from Government stocks, while the shipments by private traders stood around 2.6 mt for the period.

In the current financial year starting April 1, exports from Government stocks stood at around five lakh tonnes, while shipments by private traders are estimated at 3-4 lakh tonnes, sources said.

vishwanath.kulkarni@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW