The Hindu Business Line : ISEC bags 50,000 t Pakistan sugar tender

Indian Sugar Exim Corporation Ltd (ISEC) has won the latest 50,000-tonne white sugar import tender floated by the state-owned Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP).

ISEC's quote of $510 per tonne (cost plus freight, Karachi port) was the lowest in TCP's seventh tender of 2006 that was opened today. According to sources, other bidders included Agrocorp International of Singapore ($512.95), Cargill International of Switzerland ($526), ED&F Mann, London ($526.48) and Dubai's Al Khaleej Sugar Company ($543.5). ISEC has bagged four out of TCP's seven tenders (each of 50,000 tonnes) floated so far this year. This includes the first and second tenders of February 25 and March 25, for which ISEC's winning bids were $478 and $473 per tonne c&f Karachi, respectively. The successful bidder for the third tender opened on April 10 was Cargill ($505 per tonne), while the fourth on April 15 was again bagged by ISEC at $491. The fifth and sixth tenders on April 22 and April 29 were both won by Al Khaleej, which quoted $504 and $523, respectively.

TCP is expected to float another 3-4 tenders in the coming weeks to bridge Pakistan's estimated domestic shortfall of at last eight lakh tonnes (l.t) in 2006. As against a consumption requirement of 38 l.t, Pakistan's production of white sugar is slated to fall to 28-30 l.t in the 2005-06 season (November-October). ISEC — a jointly owned company of the Indian Sugar Mills Association and National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd — is sourcing its sugar from various Indian mills discharging their export obligations against past duty-free imports of raw sugar.

The shipments are being made largely from the Mumbai and Chennai ports, within a delivery period of five weeks.