India MMTC says rice bids too costly

Indian state-run trader MMTC is not likely to import rice as the bids at recent tenders were too high to be acceptable, and the decision may cool prices, its chairman said on Wednesday.

Sanjiv Batra also said MMTC's October gold imports rose 44 percent from a year ago, which he said was in step with rising demand and imports into India, the world's largest consumer.

On Monday, India got 18 bids for three rice import tenders totalling 30,000 tonnes, which the government said would likely be the last foreign purchases needed to boost domestic supply after it was hit by the weakest monsoon since 1972.

But prices have been pushed up by a record 600,000 tonne tender for December by the Philippines, the world's largest importer of the grain.

Traders said Vietnam rice prices rose this week on the back of a jump in demand for exports after a Philippine tender.

"There is no proposal to buy rice at high prices. The matter has been referred to the government," Batra told reporters. "Domestic prices are much lower."

The lowest bid for the Indian tenders came in from MTPL at $373 a tonne, with global firms including Louis Dreyfus and Ameropa quoting up to $599 a tonne.

"If we don't buy, prices will cool," Batra said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture had forecast a fall of between 15 million and 17 million tonnes in India's rice output for 2009/10 from a record 99.2 million tonnes in 2008/09.