No plan to import wheat as sufficient stocks available: Govt
New Delhi, August 21: After a media report claimed that India was likely to start importing wheat, the Department of Food & Public Distribution on Sunday clarified that country has no such plans and has ample stocks to meet the domestic requirements.
Taking to Twitter, the department on Sunday said: "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."
Earlier this year, several wheat-growing regions in India witnessed multiple rounds of heat waves ahead of the rabi harvest which affected some wheat crops.
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.
Wheat export demand increased as the tense situation between Russia and Ukraine escalated into a full-fledged war, leading to record-high wheat prices in the local mandis. Price increases were also a result of crop losses driven by heat waves.
Notably, both of the countries involved in the war, Ukraine and Russia, are major wheat suppliers.
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Wheat prices in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, which is regarded as one of the key mandis, reached Rs 2,400-2,500 per 100 kg, up from Rs 2,000-2,100 before the Ukraine conflict broke out. Wheat prices usually stay low during this time of year when freshly harvested rabi crops make their way into marketplaces or mandis.
However, the current wheat price in India is significantly above the Centre's guaranteed Minimum Support Price of Rs 2,015 per 100 kg, which is a rare occurrence.
However, wholesale wheat prices in domestic mandis have recently fallen from lifetime highs and have stabilised as the central government timely implemented a number of policy interventions on foodgrain exports.
Notably, in order to manage the country's overall food security as well as address the needs of neighbouring and other vulnerable countries, India changed its wheat export policy by categorising its export as "prohibited."
While banning wheat exports, the government declared that the move was taken to manage the country's overall food security as well as address the needs of neighbouring and other vulnerable countries.
Eventually, the Indian government put restrictions on the exports of wheat flour (atta) exports and other related products like maida, semolina (rava/sirgi), wholemeal atta and resultant atta.
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-PTC News
