May 19, 2008

India's local wheat purchases doubles on-year

India's state-run agencies purchased 19.55 million tonnes of local wheat from farmers in the crop marketing year that started in April, up from 9.59 million tonnes during the same period last year, an official statement showed Friday (May 16, 2008).

Wheat procurement by state agencies and the size of their stocks determine the amount of imports that the country needs in a given year.

In the marketing year that started April 2007, India imported around 1.8 million tonnes of wheat, down from 5.5 million tonnes a year earlier.