Wheat tender elicits lukewarm response

The country's new tender for import of 3 million tonne of wheat on Thursday elicited a lukewarm response with only eight companies submitting bids for the country's largest-ever wheat import contract. Australia's AWB Ltd, Cargill Inc of the US and Glencore AG of Switzerland are among the eight bidders, a government official said.

No single bid has been made for the entire three-million-tonne import contract, the official told after a meeting with prospective bidders.

In terms of quantity, AWB is the highest bidder. The Australian wheat exporter has bid for 1.22 million tonne wheat import.

AWB's offer is "very competitive", a company official said, declining to give the exact bid price or other details.

"We have put in the bid according to the tender specifications of the State Trading Corp," the Australian official said.

The tender has been floated by State Trading Corporation to import wheat on behalf of the government.

AWB has already been awarded a contract to export 500,000 tonne wheat-of which 100,000 tonne have already arrived on Indian shores. India is importing wheat to replenish its fast-depleting stocks and curb prices, which have flared up on reports of dwindling stocks.

Only eight bids for a 3-million-tonne tender is abysmally low, narrowing down India's choice in shortlisting bidders, a Mumbai-based analyst said. The import norms specified in the tender are stringent, the analyst said. Rigid norms have already led to a delay in the previous wheat shipments from Australia to India. Shipments with around 400,000 tonne wheat from AWB have been put on hold on quality complaints.

The bids, submitted both on a free-on-board and cost-and-freight basis, will be evaluated later on Thursday, the government official said.