Wheat export: MMTC,STC & PEC get bids lower than floor price

New Delhi, Oct 4. State-owned trading firms STC, MMTC and PEC have received 11 bids for their tenders to export 1.6 lakh tonnes wheat from the FCI godowns with highest quotation of USD 267 per tonne, which is lower than the floor price fixed by the government. In August, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had approved 2 million tonnes of wheat exports from FCI godowns for this fiscal subject to a floor price of USD 300 per tonne through STC, MMTC and PEC. STC received highest bid of USD 267 a tonne, while maximum quotations by global bidders in case of MMTC and PEC were USD 261 per tonne and 260.08 per tonne, respectively, a government official said. STC and MMTC had invited tenders for export of 60,000 tonnes each from Mundra and Kakinada ports, respectively, while PEC had invited bids for export of 40,000 tonnes from Kandla port. Sources said that PEC received six bids, MMTC got two bids and PEC three bids. The bidders included Cargill, Emmsons and Starcomm. As bids are lower than the base price, the Empowered Committee headed by Commerce Secretary may not approve export at such a lower rate. In 2012-13 fiscal, the government had earned USD 1.4 billion from export of 4.2 million tonne wheat by PSUs. Indian wheat had fetched an average price of USD 311.38 per tonne.