March 6, 2012

With India's ample supply, an additional one million tonnes each of sugar, wheat and rice can be permitted for export this marketing year, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said Monday (Mar 5).

The government has allowed two million tonnes of sugar exports during the marketing year that began October 1. Increased exports from India, the world's second-largest sugar producer, will likely weaken global prices.

Pawar said there was no reason to discontinue wheat and rice exports.

"We have enough food grain stocks," he told reporters on the sidelines of a conference.

India was on track to achieve a new high in food grain output of more than 250 million tonnes during the crop year ending June 30, he said. The government has not set any limit on wheat or rice exports since it lifted a ban on them in September, but a ministerial panel was expected to review the quantities exported.

Rice exports are expected to top four million tonnes by mid-March--double the quantity originally proposed by the government. Exports have been brisk India's prices are lower than those of top exporters Thailand and Vietnam.

On the other hand, wheat exports have been slow because prices are high. India has exported around 550,000 tonnes since the ban was lifted. The planned implementation of a food security law later this year won't affect wheat and rice exports, Pawar said. The law is intended to provide wheat to the poor at a fraction of market prices. "I don't see any problems," he said.

Wheat production is expected to rise by about 1.7% to 88.31 million tonnes in the crop year that began July 1, while rice production will likely increase 7% to 102.75 million tonnes, the Agriculture Ministry has estimated. Plentiful rainfall during the June-September monsoon season has helped improve output. The majority of farmlands in India depend on rain. Pawar said it was too early to discuss the potential rainfall this monsoon season, adding that some early indicators would come by the first week of April.