July 13, 2007

 

India sees 2007 wheat output at 74.89 million tonnes

 

 

India's wheat output in 2007 is estimated at around 74.89 million metric tonnes up from an earlier forecast of 73.70 million tonnes, a senior government official said Thursday (July 12).

 

India produced 69.35 million tonnes of wheat in 2006, according to government estimates.

 

"As of now, latest indications are of wheat output this year being very close to 75 million tonnes, but these are provisional figures which are still being fine-tuned with inputs from provincial governments and data received from remote sensing satellites," according to an official.

 

The official said the earlier forecast was made when the harvest had just begun, but market arrivals and large volumes of purchases by both the government and private companies indicate actual output is probably much higher.

 

However, the official said, some of the wheat-growing regions have also reported yield losses shortly before harvest in April.

 

"All statistical inputs from various regions are being collated," said the official.

 

The government put Indian wheat output this year at 72.5 million tonnes in February, when the plantings were over, but revised it up to 73.7 million tonnes when harvest began.

 

The government's wheat purchases from farmers have increased to around 11.10 million tonnes this year from 9.22 million tonnes in 2006.

 

In May, ample supplies gave government the confidence to scrap a tender to import up to 1.0 million tonnes due to costly bids. From bids for another tender for import of the same quantity of wheat Tuesday (July 10), government purchased only 511,000 tonnes on the same date.

The official said there is no contradiction in upward revision of output estimates and simultaneous imports.

 

"Imports are meant to build buffer stocks for financial year to March 2009 and have nothing to do with current local supplies that are more than adequate to meet immediate demand due to a bumper local crop," said the official.

 

He said a good crop this year doesn't guarantee bumper harvests in future as well.