NEW DELHI: The government is not planning to import wheat as it has enough stocks to meet the country’s needs, official sources said.
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has enough stocks for public distribution, they added.
“There are no plans to import wheat into India. The country has sufficient stocks to meet our domestic needs,” a source said. The comments come in the context of some reports that India may be importing the food grains.
India’s wheat production is expected to have fallen by nearly 3% to 106.84 million tonnes, while overall foodgrain production is expected to have hit a record 315.72 million tonnes during the of the 2021-22 agricultural campaign.
Wheat production is estimated to have declined due to a heat wave that resulted in shriveled grains in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana.
According to the fourth advance estimate for the 2021-22 crop year released recently by the Ministry of Agriculture, record production is estimated for rice, maize, chickpeas, pulses, rapeseed and mustard, oilseeds and sugar cane.
Earlier this month, a wheat milling body demanded that the government remove the 40% import duty on wheat to boost domestic supply and control prices.
Members of the Roller Flour Millers’ Federation of India met with Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey on Wednesday to discuss rising prices and shortage of wheat in the market, it said in a statement.
Federation President Anjani Agarwal said the price of wheat has risen by Rs 300-350 per quintal over the past 15 days.
The industry body has raised concerns about the unavailability of wheat and the drastic rise in prices over the past few days, even though the harvest season ended just a month ago and the new harvest would only arrive in eight months.
It also requested the release of wheat under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) through a tender process for user industries.
In May, India banned wheat exports in a bid to control high prices as wheat production was hit by a scorching heat wave. In July, the government said wheat stocks in FCI godowns were expected to be 134 lakh tonnes at the start of the next fiscal year, 80% above the buffer standard.
In a written response to the Rajya Sabha, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal said the central wheat stock as of July 1, 2023 was well above food grain stocking standards. India exported a record 7 million tonnes of wheat in the financial year 2021-22.
Wholesale-based inflation eased to a five-month low of 13.93 percent in July thanks to lower food and manufactured goods prices. Food inflation in July fell to 10.77% from 14.39% in June.
NEW DELHI: The government is not planning to import wheat as it has enough stocks to meet the country’s needs, official sources said. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has enough stocks for public distribution, they added. “There are no plans to import wheat into India. The country has sufficient stocks to meet our domestic needs,” a source said. The comments come in the context of some reports that India may be importing the food grains. India’s wheat production is expected to have fallen by nearly 3% to 106.84 million tonnes, while overall foodgrain production is expected to have hit a record 315.72 million tonnes during the of the 2021-22 agricultural campaign. Wheat production is estimated to have declined due to a heat wave that resulted in shriveled grains in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana. According to the fourth advance estimate for the 2021-22 crop year released recently by the Ministry of Agriculture, record production is estimated for rice, maize, chickpeas, pulses, rapeseed and mustard, oilseeds and sugar cane. Earlier this month, a wheat milling body demanded that the government remove the 40% import duty on wheat to boost domestic supply and control prices. Members of the Roller Flour Millers’ Federation of India met with Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey on Wednesday to discuss rising prices and shortage of wheat in the market, it said in a statement. Federation President Anjani Agarwal said the price of wheat has risen by Rs 300-350 per quintal over the past 15 days. The industry body has raised concerns about the unavailability of wheat and the drastic rise in prices over the past few days, even though the harvest season ended just a month ago and the new harvest would only arrive in eight months. It also requested the release of wheat under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) through a tender process for user industries. In May, India banned wheat exports in a bid to control high prices as wheat production was hit by a scorching heat wave. In July, the government said wheat stocks in FCI godowns were expected to be 134 lakh tonnes at the start of the next fiscal year, 80% above the buffer standard. In a written response to the Rajya Sabha, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal said the central wheat stock as of July 1, 2023 was well above food grain stocking standards. India exported a record 7 million tonnes of wheat in the financial year 2021-22. Wholesale-based inflation eased to a five-month low of 13.93 percent in July thanks to lower food and manufactured goods prices. Food inflation in July fell to 10.77% from 14.39% in June.