Australia to bid in new Indonesia wheat tender

Australia to bid in new Indonesia wheat tender

SYDNEY (Reuters): AWB Ltd., the re-named Australian Wheat
Board, will bid in Indonesia's foreshadowed tender for 700,000
tons of wheat in September, a spokesman said yesterday.

AWB regularly participated in Indonesian tenders and the
expected September purchase was not likely to be any different,
he said.

Beddu Amang, the chairman of Indonesia's state commodity
agency Bulog, said in Bangkok on Aug. 9 that tenders for 700,000
tons of wheat and 100,000 tons to 200,000 tons of white sugar
might be issued in September.

Australia's main sugar exports are in raw form, with local
sugar refiners saying recently that they were following
Indonesian white sugar tenders but that local capacity
constraints may inhibit Australian ability to supply.

Queensland Sugar Corp., which exports raws, told Reuters last
week that it had sold about 20,000 tons to Indonesia in its last
sugar tender. It declined to comment on whether it would bid in
future tenders.

AWB was disappointed with its allocation in Indonesia's last
wheat tender, securing a sale of 269,500 tons in a total tender
of 745,000 tons. Indonesia also took 240,000 tons from Canada and
235,500 tons from the U.S.

The Australian monopoly wheat exporter has pointed out that
Indonesia is traditionally a major market for Australian wheat
and has expressed concern about increasing U.S. penetration of
Indonesia, a comparatively new market for that country.

Australian grains industry leaders have said that U.S.
donations of wheat to Indonesia are undercutting Australia's
commercial sales to Indonesia, paving the way for U.S. commercial
sales and acting as a disguised subsidy.

Last year Australia sold 2.4 million tons of wheat to
Indonesia for a 60 percent share of the market.