August 21, 2007

Indian private companies buy 1.88 million tonnes wheat from 2007 harvest

Private trading companies in India, with purchases of over 50,000 tonnes wheat each from the latest local harvest, have made a total procurement of 1.88 million tonnes as of Aug 10, Junior Minister for Food, Akhilesh Prasad Singh said Monday (Aug 20).

In reply to a lawmaker's query in Parliament, he said there is no substantial impact of private procurement on the availability of food grains in the domestic market.

Singh did not give a company-wise break-up of the local procurement of wheat by companies which have purchased over 50,000 tonnes each this year.

Under India's Wheat (Stock Declaration by Companies or Firms or Individuals) Order, issued Mar 1, any private entity that buys wheat beyond 50,000 tonnes in the financial year to March 2008 will have to submit purchase and stock details to the federal government.

Explaining the rationale behind the order, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Mar 29, "Since purchase and stock details of government-run agencies are in the public domain, the same procedure should be followed for private companies as well."

The government's own local wheat purchases are estimated at 11.10 million tonnes in 2007, compared with 9.23 million tonnes year-earlier due to a rise in output by over 5.5 million tonnes on-year to 74.89 million tonnes.

In India, wheat imports depend on the size of the government's local wheat purchases from farmers. Last year, a shortfall in local procurement led to wheat imports of 5.5 million tonnes by the government.

This year, State Trading Corp. has already imported 511,000 tonnes of wheat and another tender to buy the grain from abroad is due shortly, a senior government official said earlier in the day.