MUMBAI: Traders have bought about 300,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat to be delivered to India in September and October as the country imports wheat for a second year to meet a domestic shortfall.
Seven ships carrying roughly 300,000 tonnes of milling wheat with 11.5 percent protein are expected to load this month in Ukraine for India, two trade sources said.
“Most of these deals have been signed in the last few weeks,” said a Singapore-based trader who has been actively shipping wheat into the Indian market.
“There could be more demand later this year but as of now things have slowed down after these deals.”
Traders paid between $210 and $217 a tonne, including cost and freight, for the wheat cargoes.
Importers shipped in close to 5 million tonnes of wheat to India in the year to June 2017, the most in a decade, after two years of lower production due to adverse weather.
This year, traders expect India’s demand for imported wheat to slow, but it will still need to buy about 2-3 million tonnes as local supplies dwindle towards the end of the year.
