SINGAPORE, March 3 (Reuters) - Millers in India have made their first international wheat purchases of the year, taking two Australian shipments in recent deals for arrival in April, trade sources said on Thursday.
About 60,000 tonnes of Australian prime wheat was sold to mills in southern India at $230 a tonne, including cost and freight, the three sources said.
India last year bought about half a million tonnes of premium Australian wheat, the biggest such volume in more than a decade, after adverse weather damaged its domestic crop.
"They have started buying, but it is not yet clear how much India will buy this year," said a trader on the sidelines of an industry conference in Singapore. He declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak with media.
"It will depend on how the crop shapes up in the coming weeks."
Farmers in the world's biggest wheat producer after China are expected to harvest 93.82 million tonnes of the grain in 2016, lower than a target of 94.75 million tonnes, the farm ministry forecast last month. But that would still be more than 86.53 million tonnes last year.