Reliance Retail has emerged as the highest bidder in the Haryana State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation’s (HAFED) wheat sale tender by offering to purchase at ₹1,800-2,420/quintal (with taxes), sources said. Hafed will soon decide on the tender, which traders said some lots in Madhya Pradesh could be cancelled as the bids received were low.

For 7 lots in Haryana for 42,075 tonnes of wheat, Hafed received bids from Reliance at ₹2,420 a quintal while others offered between ₹2,240 and ₹2,382 a quintal, the sources said. Other firms that were considered in the evaluation of bids included Dreamz Overseas, Haryana Trading Company, Lakshmi Narain Gouri Shanker, Panmeshwari Dass Ghanshyam Dass, Lakshmi Narain Sunil Kumar, Narain Ji Traders, Shri Ganga Traders, and Goldfinch Hygenic Foods.

‘Inferior quality’

For 62,193 tonnes on offer in 16 lots in Madhya Pradesh, Reliance was the sole bidder for 13 lots as many firms did not participate due to a possible cancellation, traders said. “Since the quality of wheat offered in MP was inferior to that of Haryana and traders wanted to buy the wheat cheaper. However word spread that Hafed might not sell if prices received below ₹2,400,” said a source who had submitted the bid.

For about 20,000 tonnes on offer in four lots stored in Ujjain, Ashok Nagar and Bhopal, Reliance offered ₹1,800/quintal, which indicates the quality may not be good enough, the sources said. Since the wheat in MP was purchased after the grain’s exports were banned (effective from May 13 and when prices were high, Hafed may not prefer to to dispose it of cheap, a trader said.

Mandi prices in MP were on an average ₹2,096/quintal (without tax) in May, ₹2,022 in June, ₹2,108 in July and ₹2,244 in August 1-24, official data show.

Centre mulls various measures

Hafed said the successful bidders will have to lift the grain from the designated warehouses where the stocks are kept within 40 days of announcement of results.

In case, the quantity stored at a godown is more than 5,000 tonnes and the entire quantity stored at the godown is allotted to more than one bidder, whether in one tender or in different tenders, then the bidder who lifts the last consignment will be required to lift the balance quantity over and above the allotted quantity, if any, after depositing the due payment calculated at the accepted tender rate.

Taking a serious view of the 10 per cent surge in wheat prices since June-end, the Centre is considering various measures to bring down the prices—from releasing the cereal under the open market sale scheme (OMSS) for user industries to lowering the import duty to zero.

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