Iraq seeks to buy 30,000 tonnes of Thai rice

The lowest offer in the tender from Iraq's state grains buyer to purchase at least 30,000 tonnes of rice was $408 a tonne c&f free out for rice to be sourced from Thailand, traders said on Wednesday. No decision about a purchase was believed to have been made in the tender which closed on April 16 with offers having to remain valid up to April 20, they said.
Traders said they regarded the tender as active despite a statement from Iraq's Trade Ministry on Sunday that it is negotiating direct contracts for the import of rice and wheat after repeated failures to purchase through international tenders. Iraq has been struggling to import grains for its food subsidy programme after introducing new purchasing and quality terms that kept traders away from its international tenders partly because of delayed payments. Low crude oil prices have reduced Iraq's revenues.
"We received a rice tender invitation with the old tender terms from last year so we decided to offer," said one trader who participated in the latest rice tender. Traders said nine companies took part in the latest tender, offering together around 750,000 tonnes of rice. "This was a normal and brisk participation level with mix of multinationals and big regional rice traders," another trader said. "For me, this was not direct negotiations. Naturally Iraq may cancel without a purchase as has happened recently."
Thai rice was the origin with the largest volume of offers, with around 440,000 tonnes submitted, they said. Indian rice was offered lowest at $482 a tonne c&f liner out. Argentine rice was offered lowest at $540 a tonne c&f free out and Uruguay-origin was offered lowest at $541 a tonne c&f free out, they said. Brazilian rice was offered lowest at $553 a tonne c&f free out.
One offer for United States-origin rice was made at $589.50 a tonne c& free out, they said. Free out and liner out conditions have differing terms for port unloading costs. Iraq made no purchase in its previous rice tender which closed on March 5 with offers having to remain valid up to March 9. Talks were then started about a direct, non-tender deal from the United States which also ended without a purchase.