February 20, 2002	Wednesday	Zilhaj 7, 1422

KARACHI, Feb 19: The government said on Tuesday it had cancelled a tender for the export of 100,000 tons of wheat, after receiving unsatisfactory bid prices.

The tender, on behalf of the state-run grains storage agency, was cancelled last week.

“We have cancelled the tender as the bid prices were too low,” said the official at Pakistan’s agriculture ministry.

The Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Supplies Corporation (PASSCO) had invited the bids in November and the official said five exporters participated in the wheat export tender. Bids ranged from $107 to $108 per ton fob, he said.

“We evaluated the bid prices for more than three months and also asked the bidders to raise the offers but on their refusal... the tender was scrapped,” he said. Pakistan only started exporting wheat last year, when it sold over 700,000 tons abroad thanks to a bumper crop. It still has a stockpile of more than 2.5 million tons and hopes to export most of that this year.—Reuters