August 3, 2010

India not to tax wheat imports

 

India has no plans of imposing wheat import duty for now, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said Monday (August 2).

On July 16, Pawar had said a ministerial panel would consider a proposal to levy import tax on wheat. "The proposal is not being considered now," he added.

India has huge stocks of wheat, but some millers in coastal regions of southern India import high-protein wheat from Australia, which works out cheaper for them because local taxes and high transit costs make domestic wheat from northern regions relatively costly.

According to industry officials, before taking a decision on levying an import tax, the government would watch the progress of the June-September monsoon, a key factor in the summer-sown harvest. "We don't expect import tax by October, by when a clear picture on the summer-sown crop could emerge," Beena Sharma, secretary general of Roller Flour Millers said. In India, wheat is sown from the end of October and harvested from March.