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| Edited By: DNA Web Team |Source: DNA Web Desk |Updated: Aug 22, 2022, 03:47 PM IST
‘No such plan, have sufficient stocks’: Centre denies media reports on wheat import
The Department of Food and Public Distribution has denied media allegations that the Government of India is set to import wheat, claiming that the nation already has enough wheat on hand to feed its population and that there is no such plan.
“There is no such plan to import wheat into India. Country has sufficient stocks to meet our domestic requirements and @FCI_India (Food Corporation of India) has enough stock for public distribution," the Department of Food and Public Distribution posted on Twitter in response to the report.
A representative for the food and commerce ministries declined to comment, according to news agency Bloomberg, while the Finance Ministry did not respond to a request for comment through email.
The heat wave caused other forecasters and merchants to lower their output projections, but India updated its estimate of wheat production upward on Wednesday. The agricultural ministry released the government's most recent estimate, which shows that the second-largest grain producer in the world will harvest 106.84 million tonnes of wheat in 2022, a slight rise above the earlier forecast of 106.41 million tonnes.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service has pegged India's production at 99 million tonnes, while traders estimated output fell to as low as 95 million tonnes because of the heatwave.
Local wheat costs rose to a record high of Rs 24,309 a tonne on Wednesday. That was up about 15% from previous lows, putting an end to hopes that India would fill the market void left by the absence of grain from Ukraine when the government's sudden export embargo on May 14 ended them.
Wheat is the largest crop in India, which is planted in October and November and harvested in March and April. Its rice production has also been under criticism, and this could be the next barrier to the world's food supply.
