Olam offers wheat at $283.07 per tonne in Bangladesh tender
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Singapore-based Olam International made the lowest offer at $283.07 a tonne, including CIF liner out, in a Bangladesh tender that opened on Monday to buy 50,000 tonnes of wheat, a food official said, report Reuters.
Five bidders took part in the tender, the fourth for wheat issued by the state grains buyer earlier this month as part of its planned imports of 900,000 tonnes in the year to June 2012.
Shipment is in 40 days after signing the deal, following approval by the cabinet committee on government purchases.
The offer is $8.97 per tonne higher than the last tender, in which India's Emmsons International was the lowest bidder with an offer at $274.1 a tonne.
Still, the offer is lower than previous wheat purchases at $329.11 and $309.11.
Apart from tenders, Bangladesh is to import 100,000 tonnes of wheat from Ukraine at $320 a tonne, including CIF, in its first government-to-government wheat deal with Kiev.
Bangladesh plans to speed up wheat imports to build state reserves, taking advantage of the slump in global prices, top procurement official Mohammad Badrul Hassan told Reuters earlier this month.
The front month Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures contract has fallen from a 2011 peak of $8.93-14 per bushel in February to $6.45-14 on Monday.
Rice and wheat stocks at government inventories stand at more than 1.5 million tonnes, the highest level in a decade, boosted by the previous year's hefty imports and record crops.
Rice is the staple food for Bangladesh's 160 million people while wheat consumption is rising, with domestic production having stagnated at nearly 1 million tonnes.
Bangladesh, which buys 3.0-3.5 million tonnes of wheat a year, switched to cheaper Black Sea suppliers after India banned exports in 2007 amid a global shortage.
Domestic prices of the staples are easing due to plentiful stocks and after neighbouring India last month freed up exports of two million tonnes each of common rice and wheat, the bulk of which are expected to end up in Bangladesh.
Still, the government is grappling with high inflation with annual rate climbed to 11.97 percent in September on a 13.75 percent surge in food prices.