Seven global bidders have offered to supply 1.06 million tonne wheat to India in the price range of $387-488 a tonne.
Public sector MMTC had floated a global tender on November 12 for importing 350,000 tonne wheat. ?We are surprised to receive an overwhelming response to the tender,? said a MMTC official after the bids were opened on Monday. The bids are slated to be finalised on November 24.
The seven exporters in the fray are Cargill, AWB, Glencore, Toefpfer, Ameropa, Concordia and Riaz Trading. ?The bid of Starcom was rejected as it lacked proper documentation while Australian firm AWB is entering for the first time this year,? said the official.
Riaz offered the highest price at $488 a tonne while Cargill offered to supply 65,000 wheat at the lowest price of $397.03 a tonne at Mundra port. However, Glencore offered to supply the highest quantity of wheat (325,000 tonne) at Mundra port at $407 a tonne.
According to the tender, imports should be completed by February 10, 2008 through eight ports ? Mundra, Kakinada, Kandla, Chennai, Vishakhapatnam, Tuticorin, Cochin and Mumbai. Among the price range quoted by individual bidders, the price for delivery at Mundra port is the lowest.
The government had given permission to three public sector trading houses ? MMTC, PEC and the State Trading Corporation of India (STC) ? to import 1 million tonne wheat. Monday?s bids showed that MMTC alone could attract an offer of over 1 million tonne.
PEC and STC are expected to follow with import tenders of their own after the MMTC bids are finalised on November 24. Shipments are expected to be tied up for the period between December, 2007 and March 2008.
Already 1.3 million tonne wheat has been contracted for imports in response to the last two tenders floated by STC.