Govt mulls fresh wheat import tender for buffer

The Centre was planning a series of wheat import tenders over the coming months to build buffer stocks, a senior food ministry official said today.

The official, who was attending a meeting of the National Development Council on agriculture sector, did not specify any timeframe for floating the tenders.

Experts expect the government to float fresh wheat import tenders by June-July as global prices are expected to ease by then on new harvest arrivals in the Black Sea region and Europe.

At the beginning of the current financial year, the buffer stood at 4.7 million tonnes compared with 2.1 million tonnes last year.

The official's remark comes even as the Centre is finalising purchase details for the 1-million-tonne wheat import tender floated by State Trading Corporation on April 30.

The state-run trading house is planning to purchase about 350,000 tonnes of wheat from AC Toepfer and Glencore at $263 a tonne.

The food ministry is still assessing the bids and a decision is likely soon. The Centre is not keen to buy the entire 1 million tonnes of wheat as the bids received are too high. The weighted average cost of the bids in the current tender works out around $285 a tonne compared with $230 in the previous tender in September.

The country is likely to produce 73.7 million tonnes of wheat in 2007, up from 69.48 million tonnes in 2006.

The country grows only one wheat crop a year, mainly in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh and central state of Madhya Pradesh.

Sowing starts in the winter months of November and December and harvest begins in late March and early April.