UPDATE 1-India strikes season's first wheat export deal at $270/T

(Adds trade comments, details)

By Mayank Bhardwaj

NEW DELHI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Indian traders have sealed the first export deal for new season wheat at $270 per tonne free-on-board for shipments during April and May, trade sources said on Thursday.

"The first deal has been struck for 25,000 tonnes from Gujarat," one of the traders said, referring to the western Indian state.

India did the deal at a discount to other suppliers and prices could go up in subsequent export contracts, traders said.

Rival supplies from the Black Sea region would cost about $290 a tonne to $293 per tonne FOB, they said.

"Going by the current trend, delivered price of Indian wheat will be $22-$25 a tonne cheaper than Black Sea," said Tejinder Narang, an adviser at New Delhi-based trading company Emmsons International.

"The question is whether Indian traders will be willing to sell at such discounts?" Narang asked.

Sudan, Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates are the top three buyers on Indian wheat, traders say.

India, the world's biggest wheat producer behind China, is expected to harvest another bumper crop in March-April, pushing up supplies.

State-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) is saddled with huge stocks of the grain due to a series of bumper harvests since 2007.

To cut down stocks, the government has asked state-run traders to export 2 million tonnes of wheat from FCI warehouses. Government-backed traders exported nearly 4.5 million tonnes of wheat in a previous tranche.

To make exports more attractive to the Middle East and neighbouring Bangladesh, the government in October cut the floor price for the 2 million tonnes by $40 a tonne to $260.

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Government-backed trading companies -- State Trading Corp. (STC) STCI.NS , MMTC Ltd MMTC.NS and PEC -- have received attractive bids since then.

On Wednesday, STC received the highest bid at $282.62 per tonne, way above the floor price, for its wheat export tender offering 160,000 tonnes.

(Editing by Keiron Henderson)

((mayank.bhardwaj@thomsonreuters.com)(+91-11-4178 1019)(Reuters Messaging: mayank.bhardwaj.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: INDIA WHEAT/EXPORT