May 31, 2005

India says no plans to import wheat in view of adequate stocks
 

Despite estimates of a lower crop, India is not planning to import wheat as the country has sufficient grain stocks.

Trader feedback indicate that India might need to import wheat as the country is expected to produce about 2 million tonnes less than an earlier estimate of 75 million tonnes.

Officials report that India had 4.06 million tonnes of wheat stocks on April 1 against the buffer stock requirement of 4 million tonnes. As such, their stock position is at a comfortable level and there are no plans to import wheat at all.

Wheat procurement by Indian government agencies was about 1.3 million tonnes lower than the previous year's 14.7 million tonnes as of May 26.

Other official reports state that late harvesting in some states started because of bad weather, leading to lower procurement. But traders feel that the lower procurement was due to private trading firms buying heavily from farmers at higher prices. This was in anticipation of a rise in prices.

Wheat sowing in India begins in November and harvesting takes place between April and May.

India was confident earlier about its wheat output because of sufficient soil moisture at the time of sowing. But a hailstorm and rains in March are expected to reduce output.

Wheat prices in India have risen to about 7,500 rupees a tonne from about 7,200 rupees two weeks ago.