NEW DELHI: A panel of Indian ministers has agreed to lift a ban of exports of wheat and wheat products once elections end in May, local media reported on Thursday, citing sources they did not name.
India will allow exports of two million tonnes of wheat once national parliamentary polls scheduled for April and May have been held, television channel CNBC TV-18 and news agency Press Trust of India said. Some traders expressed surprise at the reported move, despite India’s overflowing grain bins which have become a concern for food agencies. “It is bizarre. How can ministers of this government take a decision for their successors? Let the truth emerge,” said an official with a global trading firm, who did not wish to be identified.
India, the world’s second-biggest wheat producer, banned wheat and wheat exports in early 2007 as prices spiralled. “We have taken a review of the price situation,” Farm Minister Sharad Pawar told reporters after the meeting, without giving further details.
Trade officials said India had large stocks of the staple and could easily handle sizeable exports, but would have to provide incentives to support exports as global prices had fallen sharply.
“Two million tonnes of exports will not make any difference as we have ample of wheat but the government will have to give subsidy for exports,” said Atul Chaturvedi, president of Adani Enterprises Ltd, India’s biggest private exporter of farm goods.
Analysts say any decision by India to allow exports may put some further downward pressure on benchmark Chicago prices which finished 18 cents higher at $5.09 bushel on Wednesday, down 62.2 percent from the February 2008 peak of $13.495. Chaturvedi said the Middle East and Southeast Asia could be potential export markets for India. At Thursday’s meeting ministers had also been expected to discuss whether to lower the floor price for basmati rice exports from the current $1,100 per tonne, cutting a 20 percent import tax on crude soyoil and allowing vegetable oil exports.
Source : Daily Times.