US firms to vie for wheat import tender

NEWS DIGEST

US wheat exporting firms, which are at loggerheads with Australia's monopoly wheat exporter AWB over Indian contracts, will actively take part in the country's upcoming wheat import tender for 2.3 million tonne, a US agriculture department official said on Wednesday.

India may relax import norms in the new tender to broadbase participation. "US companies will actively take part in the next tender...We believe the norms will be different from the last two tenders," the official at the US Embassy said.

India embarked on wheat imports after six years to build its fast depleting buffer. It awarded the first 500,000-tonne import contract to AWB.

In the second tender issued by the State Trading Corporation to import 3 million tonne of the cereal, AWB is supplying 5,00,000 tonne at $187 a tonne, while Agrico Trade and Finance SA of Switzerland is selling 3,00,000 tonne at $198-199.2 a tonne.

Close on the heels of India awarding the 5,00,000-tonne wheat contract to AWB, the US had made a strong pitch for selling the commodity to India. In the second tender, which elicited lukewarm response with eight companies taking part, only AWB and Agrico met the import norms.

Malaysia for edible oil import tariff changes

Malaysia on Wednesday sought changes in India's edible oil import tariff structure to provide a level playing field for its palm oil exports to New Delhi.

India's existing duty structure favours soyoil imports over palm oil, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Najib Tun Abd Razak said.

"The current duty structure is in favour of soyoil," he told a delegation of Indian and Malaysian businessmen.

India imposes an import duty of 45 per cent on crude soyoil, while on palm oils, the duty is around 75 per cent. Razak said Malaysia was also keen to develop palm oil plantations overseas, as there is no scope of increasing land under palm cultivation in the country.

He said India is an attractive destination for Malaysian palm oil growers. "If this (palm plantation plans in India) materialises, it will bring about a new and exciting phase in palm oil trade between the two nations," he said.

"We are quite excited about overseas plantations," he said. India imports palm oil primarily from Indonesia and Malaysia.

Fruits, veges terminal markets in Maha

The central government is planning three terminal markets in Maharashtra, one each in Mumbai, Nasik and Nagpur, at a total cost of Rs 250 crore.

Such markets will help farmers sell their fruits and vegetables produce directly to end-users, an official from the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board said.

The model for the terminal markets would be replicated from the one existing in Bangalore developed by the National Dairy Development Corporation.

The project will be implemented by the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board, the nodal agency appointed by the ministry of agriculture.

State minister for marketing, Harshvardhan Patil, said, "These markets would help farmers get remunerative prices for their produce and facilitate development and growth of agriculture in the state."

He said the state government has also amended the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act to enable farmers to sell their produce directly to consumers.

India's crude oil basket eases to $67.62

India's crude oil basket on Tuesday eased to $67.62 a barrel from $68.38 a barrel on Monday, data from the petroleum ministry said.

The price of the Indian crude basket had hit an all-time high of $71.13 a barrel on May 2. India's crude oil basket has averaged $67.45 a barrel in June so far, compared with $66.29 in May and $67.15 in April.