STC dispatches wheat import orders to Australia

New Delhi, Mar 3 (UNI) India has accepted the Australian bid to supply 500,000 tonnes of wheat and officially conveyed to that country to send the cargo as per the quarantine specifications already laid down in the tender.

The Indian government's designated agency, State Trading Corporation (STC), dispatched the import order to that country's canalising agency Australian Wheat Board (AWB) on March one last and is upto the Board will now furnuish the stock supply schedule to the STC, official sources said.

The AWB's quote of 179 US dollars per tonne as the lowest among the eight bidders in the tender floated on February 10 last besides, it has facilities to fumicide the stocks with methyl bromide which India has insisted upon.

Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar has already announced that the cargo of the imported wheat changed zero duty, would be directly sent to the country's Southern ports for the distribution of stocks in the southern states where wheat prices had witnessed an abnormal rise to Rs 1,100-1,200 a quintal.

Food Ministry officials said the imported wheat from Australia could be supplied in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh at around Rs 8700 a tonne, substantially lower than the FCI's open market rates at Rs 9,450 a tonne excluding local taxes.

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