February 21, 2007

 

India's wheat output seen to exceed 72.5 million tonnes

 

 

India's wheat output may exceed the current government estimate of 72.5 million tonnes, buoyed by favourable weather conditions, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said Monday (Feb 19).

 

The size of India's wheat crop among other things will determine whether the country has to import wheat in 2007.

 

"The recent rains have been extremely good for the wheat crop and may boost output," the minister told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.

 

He said India didn't have any immediate plans to import wheat.

 

In his first public assessment of the wheat crop after government released the initial crop estimates Feb 6, he said the rains had been timely brought down temperatures and improved the quality of the crop.

 

The initial crop estimates have forecast wheat output of 72.5 million tonnes in 2007, up from 69.48 million tonnes a year earlier.

 

"The favourable weather conditions are still prevalent to this moment and if they continue until the first two weeks of March without much variation in temperature, production may turn out to be higher than the current estimates," he said.

 

India's wheat acreage for 2006/07, as of Feb 19 is estimated at 28.44 million hectares, up from 26.63 million hectares a year earlier.

 

According to government records, this is the highest ever acreage of wheat in any year.

 

India's wheat crop is mostly planted between October and December. Small volumes are harvested between mid-January and February, but the bulk of the harvest takes place between April and May.

 

The minister said last year India's wheat output declined because of higher-than-normal temperatures in January and February.

 

"This year area under wheat has gone up and the temperature was higher than normal for only three or four days," he said.

 

The minister said he has done a detailed review of the condition of the wheat crop in major growing provinces such as Punjab and Haryana in consultation with the government officials.

 

"The crop condition is extremely good, but we are keeping our fingers crossed," he added.

 

India's federal government also announced Tuesday (Feb 20) that it will sell 365,000 tonnes of wheat by March 31 on the local market to keep inflation in check.

 

The sales will be made through provincial governments at a fixed price of Rp 9,860.60 (US$223.54) a tonne.

 

Government data released Friday showed India's inflation rate accelerated to a two-year high of 6.73 percent on the year in the week to Feb 3, from 6.58 percent the previous week, mainly due to higher food prices.

 

Government wheat stocks as of Feb 1 are estimated at 6.19 million tonnes, up from 4.87 million tonnes year earlier. The rise in stocks is attributed to imports of 5.5 million tonnes in 2006.