The central government has denied media claims that India may import wheat in the coming days due to food grain shortage. In response to a Bloomberg tweet claiming that India may import wheat in the coming days, the Department of Food and Public Distribution clarified that there is no such plan and that the country has sufficient supplies to fulfil domestic requirements.
The Department of Food and Public Distribution stated, “There is no such plan to import wheat into India. Country has sufficient stocks to meet our domestic requirements and @FCI_India has enough stock for public distribution.”
There is no such plan to import wheat into India. Country has sufficient stocks to meet our domestic requirements and @FCI_India has enough stock for public distribution.
— Department of Food & Public Distribution (@fooddeptgoi) August 21, 2022
The Bloomberg report said that while PM Modi had said that India was feeding the world, the country needs to consider importing food grains. The report reads, “The looming shortage and rising prices now have authorities making preparations to buy from overseas. Government officials are discussing whether to cut or abolish a 40% import tax on wheat to help flour millers in some regions to import grain, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified as the talks are private.”
The Bloomberg report was carried by other media houses too, like NDTV, Livemint etc.
Reuters reported earlier on August 9 that India may remove a 40% levy on wheat imports and limit the amount of stock that dealers may retain in order to cool high local prices in the country.
The largest winter crop in India is wheat, which is planted in October and November and harvested in March and April. After China, India is the world’s second-largest producer of wheat. Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, and Gujarat are India’s top wheat-producing states.
Ban on export of wheat
In May this year, the government prohibited the export of wheat owing to instability and price fluctuations in the global agricultural market. As sections of the media reported that the ban was to ensure ‘food security,’ the Ministry of Commerce and Industry stated in the order prohibiting the export of wheat that there had been a sudden increase in the price of wheat on the international market due to a number of factors, and that the Government of India was committed to satisfying the requirements of India, its neighbours, and other vulnerable developing nations who were negatively impacted by the sudden changes in the global market for wheat and were unable to access adequate wheat supplies.
The union govt had said that some countries like China were buying and stocking Indian wheat to manipulate the price, and to prevent this, export was banned. However, India continued to supply wheat to those countries that needed it to meet their food demands and banned export for speculative purposes.
Following the restrictions imposed by the Government of India on wheat export, the price of wheat came down for domestic consumers. As OpIndia reported, the wheat price declined up to 8% to Rs 2,125 per quintal from the previous price which was Rs 2,325 per quintal in May this year.
