June 20, 2005

India may import wheat due to limited stocks

The Indian government may have to import wheat due to less than expected stocks procured particularly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar provinces. This also brought down the overall procurement by 24.2 percent to 14.8 million tonnes on June 1.

The procurement volume falls short by about 3 million tonnes from the government's target of 18 million tonnes.

Uttar Pradesh produces the largest output in India at about 25 million tonnes but the government only procured 700,000 tonnes from the province, according to reports.

Dwindling foodgrain stocks and high wheat prices are now the government's major concerns and wheat imports may be considered to meet requirements of various welfare schemes, if there was a shortfall.