Indonesia steps up wheat imports amid drought

Indonesian grain buyers are boosting imports of lower quality wheat as a decline in corn output last year following a severe drought linked to an El Nino weather pattern tightened the country’s animal feed supplies. Wheat exports into Indonesia, the world’s third biggest buyer of the grain, are likely to climb at least 10 percent in 2024 from around 10.87 million tonnes last year, according to Singapore-based grain traders. “Indonesia millers have been buying larger volumes of wheat mainly from the Black Sea region,” a Singapore-based trader at an international house said. “Some of the wheat is of lower quality and it is expected to be used in animal feed.” Indonesian importers have signed contracts to buy around 300,000 tonnes of lower quality wheat in recent weeks, largely from Ukraine and Russia, at $260 to $270 per ton, including cost and freight, for February-March shipment, traders said. “These deals are for prompt shipments,” a second trader said in Singapore, underscoring ...