March 6, 2008

India's wheat stocks 50 percent more than buffer requirements

India's wheat stocks in state-run granaries as of March 1 are estimated to be around 6.55 million tonnes, more than the April 1 buffer requirement of 4.0 million tonnes, a senior government official said Wednesday (March 6, 2008).

"The wheat stock position includes the stocks of imported wheat lying in ports and also from those ships which are in transit to the country," said the official, who didn't wish to identified.

He said that total foodgrains stock of the country as of March 1 is 15.81 million tonnes.

India had contracted to import around 1.8 million tonnes of wheat in 2007 to boost its buffer stocks.

Stocks of wheat in warehouses constitute one of the benchmarks on which further imports of the grain are decided by the government.

The government sells around 900,000-1 million tonnes of wheat each month to consumers at subsidised prices.