December 7, 2007

India's next fiscal year wheat import hinges on procurement

The Indian federal government's decision on whether to import wheat in the next fiscal year beginning April 1 will depend on the amount of wheat procured and estimated demand, Junior Farm Minister Akhilesh Prasad Singh said on Friday (December 7, 2007).

"The government will take a final decision on importing wheat next year after taking into consideration procurement and estimated demand," Prasad told lawmakers in Parliament.

According to government estimates, the country's state-run agencies procured around 11.28 million tonnes of wheat as of March 2007 compared with 9.25 million tonnes a year earlier.

However, the stocks were still less than the minimum requirement of around 15 million tonnes, which prompted the government to undertake imports to beef up its buffer stocks for this fiscal year.

To date, the government has already contracted to import around 1.6 million tonnes of wheat. It is importing around 2.3 million tonnes of wheat this fiscal year.