Govt panel okays wheat export of 70,000 tonnes from FCI stock.

New Delhi: An empowered committee has cleared export of 70,000 tonnes of wheat from the government stock, for which bids were invited by state-run trading firms STC and PEC.

Recently, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had approved export of 2 million tonnes of wheat from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to clear surplus stocks.

Last month, STC had floated global tenders for export of 1,00,000 tonnes, PEC for 90,000 tonnes and MMTC for 50,000 tonnes on the behalf of government.

"After looking into the price quotation of each agencies, the Committee has cleared export of 35,000 tonnes each for STC and PEC," a source said.

STC received highest bid of USD 302 a tonne by Germany's Toepfer International for 35,000 tonnes, while Singapore-based Starcomm had bid maximum at USD 296.65 per tonne for 35,000 tonnes, the source said.

The MMTC bids are likely to be scrapped as the company has received lower price quotation in the range of USD 265-280 a tonne, compared with STC and PEC, the source added.

The source further said STC and PEC would approach the highest bidders to ship more quantity at this price.

If Toepfer International and Starcomm would not agree to undertake more shipments, then STC and PEC would negotiate with second highest bidder on prices.

The bidders should undertake the shipments in August and September period.

The committee, headed by headed by Commerce Secretary, has been constituted following direction from the CCEA. The committee has been empowered to decide on quantity, timing of tenders and the price at which exports would be undertaken.

The CCEA had also fixed a base price of USD 228 per tonne for wheat exports.

Meanwhile, PEC, STC and MMTC have floated second global tender for export of 1,30,000 tonnes wheat from government godowns to clear surplus stock.

The government is facing a storage crisis because of record 80 million tonnes of foodgrains in its stocks against storing capacity of 64 million tonnes.

India produced a record 90.23 million tonnes of wheat in 2011-12 crop year (July-June), which led to an all-time high procurement of about 38 million tonnes this year.

Source : zeenews.india.com