Australia is close to resolving a dispute with India over contract specifications in a $90 million wheat deal but has not decided whether Indian concessions in new import rules will spur it to bid in a big new tender.
Australia's national wheat exporter AWB Ltd has been embroiled in protracted negotiations with Indian officials after exports in a 500,000 tonne sale in March were interrupted by Indian complaints about pesticide content and other issues.
AWB spokesman Peter McBride said on Monday that this issue was close to settlement. "We're close to finalisation. Hopefully that will occur in the next few days," he said. Only 90,000 tonnes of the 500,000 tonne contracted amount have so far been shipped.
India's cabinet on Friday approved new wheat import rules after stringent quality specifications set in a May tender for 3 million tonnes of wheat resulted in a lukewarm response from suppliers. Last week India's State Trading Corporation issued a fresh import tender for 2.2 million tonnes of wheat, easing its rules to attract more bidders. Acceptable moisture content was increased, fumigation rules altered and the tolerable level of fungi and pests increased. AWB said on Monday that it had not decided whether India's new rules would attract it to bid.
"We're still looking at the specifications," McBride said. Whether AWB would bid would also depend on the export pool's current marketing strategy, he added.
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