Indian wheat rots as US, EU make record sales
06 Aug 2010
India has left at least 11,700 tonnes of wheat decay in the rains this year alone even as the US and EU are selling wheat at record prices on the back of a supply shortfall caused by the recent Russian export ban.
US wheat with 14 per cent protein content is selling at a minimum price of around $308 a tonne while the lowest quality soft wheat is selling at $276 a tonne, traders said.
The high prices have forced Asian buyers, mostly flower millers from Taiwan, to pass on a tender for import of 54,000 tonnes of US wheat, traders said.
US wheat prices have surged 71 per cent, increasing between $4.72 per bushel and $8.08 per bushel, since June this year. (39.2 bushels equals 1 tonne).
In Europe, the benchmark November contract rose 12.9 per cent to 236 euro (around Rs14,340) a tonne on Euronext in Paris, on Tuesday, recording the biggest-ever intraday rise of 27 euros in the process.
The November contract pared gains on Friday to trade down 14.25 euros or 6.82 per cent at 223.25 euros a tonne.