PSUs float global wheat export tenders for 1.95 lakh tonnes

STC and PEC have each invited bids for the export of 70,000 tonnes of wheat, while MMTC has sought bids for 55,000 tonnes

Public sector trading firms STC, PEC and MMTC have floated global tenders for the export of 1.95 lakh tonnes of wheat from overflowing government godowns.

This is the second round of bids for export of wheat procured by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) after the government lowered the floor price to $260 per tonne from $300 per tonne on October 30 to boost shipments.

State Trading Corporation of India Ltd (STC) and PEC Ltd have each invited bids for the export of 70,000 tonnes of wheat, while MMTC has sought bids for 55,000 tonnes.

The MMTC offer will close on December 12 and the PEC and STC tenders on December 16 and December 23, respectively. The shipments are scheduled between December and February.

According to the tender documents, STC is offering wheat from FCI stocks at Chennai port, MMTC from Pipavav port and PEC from Krishnapatnam port. The grain is of the current year.

In the first round of tenders for the export of 3.4 lakh tonnes of wheat from FCI godowns, the PSUs received bids in the range of USD 284.7-289.9 per tonne, which were higher than the base price.

The government plans to sell 2 million tonnes of wheat from FCI's surplus stock in tranches by June. The Corporation had 36 million tonnes of wheat as of October 1 compared with the actual requirement of 21.1 million tonnes.

In 2012-13, the government earned $1.4 billion from the export of 4.2 million tonnes of wheat by PSUs. Indian wheat fetched an average price of $311.38 per tonne in the previous financial year.