No plan of importing wheat: GoI

New Delhi, Aug 22: India's food and public distribution department today said it has enough stock of wheat and denied a media report that said the world's second-biggest wheat producer is planning to start importing the staple foodgrain.

 

 

 

"There is no such plan to import wheat into India. The country has sufficient stocks to meet our domestic requirements and FCI has enough stock for pubic distribution," the Department of Food & Public Distribution wrote in a reply to the news item on Twitter.

 

 

According to the fourth advance estimate of production of major agricultural crops released by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, production of wheat during 2021-22 is estimated at 106.84 million tonnes, as against the reported earlier estimate of 111 million tonnes. A Bloomberg report today said state reserves have declined in August to the lowest level for the month in 14 years, according to Food Corp. of India, while consumer wheat inflation is running at close to 12%. This also comes soon after Reuters reported earlier this month that India could scrap a 40% duty on wheat imports and cap the amount of stocks traders can hold to try to dampen record high domestic prices. If the government does remove the duty, and international prices also fall, then traders say they could start importing, especially during the upcoming festival season, when higher demand typically drives domestic prices higher. India's wheat output was threatened by a scorching heatwave this year, which along with surging export demand for wheat amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis took prices of the foodgrain to record highs, pushing up expenses for billions in the second-most populous country that were already reeling under inflationary pressure. Ukraine and Russia are two major suppliers of wheat. In Indore, considered one of the key mandis, wheat prices touched as high as Rs 2,400-2,500 per 100 kg, against Rs 2,000-2,100 until the conflict in Ukraine broke out, ANI said. Prices of wheat usually remain on the lower side during this time of the year as freshly harvested rabi crops make their way into the physical markets or mandis.

 

Also Read: UPI payments will not be charged: GoI 

 

New Delhi also had to ban wheat exports, but it allowed overseas shipments to countries that requested supplies "to meet their food security needs." The current wheat price in India is well above the Centre's assured Minimum Support Price of Rs 2,015 per 100 kg, which in itself is a rare phenomenon. Currently, wheat is trading a little below Rs 2,400 per 100 kg in Indore. In other markets too, wheat prices have somewhat softened.