Urea import deal unlikely to mature

Urea import deal unlikely to mature

The successful completion of a deal between Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) and M/s Toepfer International for importing 50,000 tons of urea is still doubtful, as the contract award letter was issued after expiry of bid. in response of TCP’s tender award letter, the lowest bidder regretted via an immediate reply and asked TCP to wait till Monday (today). The bidder said that markets in the Gulf region normally remained closed on Fridays, while ones in Europe were closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Therefore, the bidder said that its local agent was unable to approach its supplier and producer. According to the terms and condition of the urea import tender, all bids were valid for just 48 hours. TCP had opened the tender on June 5 this year and accordingly all bids expired on June 6. While, TCP awarded 50,000 tons of urea import contract to M/s Toepfer International on June 7 at about 10 pm. before awarding the urea tender to lowest bidder, a TCP official also called for extending the bid’s validity, but M/s Pacific – the local agent of M/s Toepfer International – had made it clear that because

of the weekend, it was not able to respond quickly. In the contract award letter, TCP gave a week to M/s Toepfer for depositing performance guarantee equivalent to five percent of the total contracted quantity as per clause (a-b) of the tender. The last date for depositing the performance guarantee is June 13, after which a Letter of Credit will be established by the corporation. In response of TCP’s urea import tender, which was opened on June 5, as many as 15 international bidders/suppliers had submitted their offers, quoting prices ranging between from $335 to $371 per ton Cost and Freight (C&F).