ADM, CARGILL GET WHEAT PACTS
By Sara Leitch Dow Jones Newswires
July 11, 2006

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) and Cargill Inc. received contracts to supply wheat worth a total of $141 million from the Indian government.

Archer Daniels Midland, the Decatur, Illinois, maker of food additives and ingredients for packaged-food companies, received a contract to supply 300,000 tons of wheat for $59.5 million, the Indian embassy said. The embassy said Cargill, Minnetonka, Minnesota, received a contract to supply 405,000 tons of wheat for $81.6 million.

The embassy said India is importing wheat at zero percent duty for the first time in six years to replenish buffer stocks and control domestic prices, which rose after the government allowed private companies to buy wheat directly from farmers rather than only through notified markets.

For extensive analysis of the food situaiton in India, including government policy as referred to above, see the Indian bi-weekly newsmagazine Frontline, June 30, 2006 - www.frontline.in