The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (Nafed) has announced some changes in the global tender it has floated for the purchase of sugar, raising the quantity of imported white sugar to 12,500 tonnes.
According to the revised tender, bidders should source 12,500 tonnes of white sugar, instead of 10,000 tonnes as mentioned in the earlier tender dated May 19.
The marketing federation also changed the closing date for submitting bids from May 28 to June 2, 2010.
Further it also clarified that any foreign supplier can participate in the bidding process.
Earlier, Nafed had restricted participation in the tender to those who were registered with the Refined Sugar Association or The Sugar Association of London.
The rest of the terms remained unchanged, the cooperative said, adding that a decision on the tender will be taken on June 11.
The refined white sugar from the 2010-11 crop year should be sourced from Brazil or Thailand and the consignment should reach Indian ports before September.
The government has allowed duty-free import of raw and white sugar since April last year till December 2010, to increase domestic availability and curb price rises.
India, the world’s biggest consumer of the sweetener, has so far purchased about six million tonnes of sugar from the global market since imports were allowed in April last year.
The country is meeting sugar shortages through imports as domestic production is estimated to be at 18.5 million tonnes this year against the annual demand of 23 million tonnes.
Source :- fnbnews.com