India has sold about 20,000 tonnes of milling wheat to a Middle East buyer in what regional grain traders believe is the first sale by the South Asian nation from its new crop harvest. The deal was finalised at about $170 a tonne, free-on-board, and would be sent to its destination soon, said Vijay Iyengar, managing director of Agrocorp International Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based commodities trading firm. "This is the only deal so far from the new crop," Iyengar told Reuters. "Indian prices are still not very competitive."
He said Australian wheat was currently offered at about $160 a tonne, free-on-board.
This would make more sales by India difficult unless their domestic prices eased. "Some of the wheat that has been sold by India to the Middle East might move in containers," Iyengar added.
India is expecting a domestic wheat crop of around 73 million tonnes this year, compared with 72.06 million tonnes last year. But traders are not expecting large volume exports without government subsidies.
In recent months, India has sold about 150,000 tonnes of old-crop feed wheat to the Philippines, Taiwan and Sri Lanka at prices around $105-$108 a tonne, free-on-board.
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