Corn import tender cancelled; government expects high yield this year
The tender was submitted by global traders like Concordia, Agrocorp, Starcom, Noble and Dawood international on February 12, to enhance the supply of corn in the price range of $194.62 and $221.50 per ton.
In the previous tender, New Delhi had secured supplies of 2,50,000 tons of Ukrainian corn. However, the cancellation of this tender has put plans of importing of corn on the backburner.
In the previous year, due to drought the government had demanded the state- run Pec Ltd to import half a million tons of duty free corn. This came as the country’s first such overseas purchase in a time period of 16 years.
The government-supported trader granted a contract to Dawood International of South Korea to supply 2,50,000 tons of non-genetically modified crops. This was the first international tender that was launched in January.
PEC solicited only the import of non-genetically modified crops as India does not support the import of genetically modified ones. This tender seemed like a very tall order as not many countries supply crops that could fit the bill.
PEC will be selling the imported crops directly to starch manufactures and poultry units. However, what needs to be understood is that India has been an exporter of corn to southeast Asia for many years. But high prices due to drought and its demand within the country has hampered exports on a large scale.
A substantial change in the market has brought in good news to rival suppliers like Argentina, Brazil and United States.
The agriculture ministry has forecasted a production of 5.41 million tons in the summer harvest.
March 18, 2016 | 04:42pm IST
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