Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) received seven bids at its 40,000- tonne wheat import tender at between $190.87 and $232 per tonne C&F, a company official said on Friday. "A total of nine parties submitted their offers," TCP Chairman Masood Alam Rizvi told Reuters. "But later two participants pulled out. "The Swiss-based US firm Cargill Inc is the lowest bidder with $190.87 per tonne," Rizvi said. "The TCP will announce the successful bidder on Saturday."
The successful bidder would have to complete the shipment of wheat at Karachi's Port Qasim on a C&F basis in January.
The TCP, which announced the tender for Russian and Central Asian origin milling wheat on November 29, has completed the first phase of the country's wheat import plan.
Pakistan has been forced to import one million tonnes of wheat after adverse weather reduced the harvest to 19.7 million tonnes from a target of 20 million for the last 2003/04 crop (November-April).
Pakistan consumes around 20.8 million tonnes of wheat annually. The TCP bought a total of 927,282 tonnes of wheat in two previous tenders, issued in August. That included 150,000 tonnes of Russian wheat at an average price of $198.30 per tonne C&F Karachi's port Qasim.
Pakistan has bought about 401,211 tonnes of Australian at $217 per tonne and 375,150 tonnes of US wheat at 214.11 per tonne. Most of the cargoes have arrived.
It has approved plans to import another 500,000 tonnes of wheat after officials set a wheat output target of 20.15 million tonnes for the 2004/05 (November-April) crop year.
The planned imports are likely to be finalised in the third week of December.