AWB, Cargill, Toepfer bid for MMTC's wheat tender

Glencore International AG, Toepfer International, Cargill Inc and AWB Ltd are among the seven companies competing to sell wheat to India at a tender today as record prices push up the cost of replenishing stockpiles.

The state-owned New Delhi-based MMTC Ltd got bids for 1.06 million metric tonnes at between $397 a tonne and $487 a tonne, said a government official, who didn't want to be identified as negotiations with the suppliers are confidential.

Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said in September that demand may outstrip supply this year forcing India, the world's third-biggest buyer last year, to pay more to build stocks. Wheat has soared 64 per cent on the Chicago Board of Trade in the past year after dry weather damaged crops from Canada to Australia.

Eight companies submitted bids to supply wheat, and one was rejected, the official said. The contract will be awarded by November 24 for delivery by February 10.

The wheat demand in India may total 71.3 million tonnes, exceeding availability of 65.5 million tonnes, Pawar said.

India bought 1.3 million tonnes in July and August and plans to import 1 million tonnes through three state-owned firms including MMTC, a government official said last month.

State-owned warehouses held 10.9 million tonnes of wheat on September 7, according to the Food Corporation of India, the nation's biggest buyer of food grains. The government needs 1 million tonnes every month to distribute to the poor.

The country was the world's third-biggest wheat importer in the year-ended June 1, with purchases of 6.7 million metric tonnes, according to the US Foreign Agricultural Service.

MMTC is seeking 65,000 tonnes of wheat at Mundra and 45,000 tonnes at Kandla on the country's west coast; 40,000 tonnes each at Chennai, Vishakhapatnam and Tuticorin and 50,000 tonnes at Kakinada, all in southern India. It is seeking 35,000 tonnes each at Cochin and Mumbai ports.