Wheat & Rice Export Ban To Continue: Thomas.

Food Ministry ruled out scrapping curbs on exports of wheat and rice as the world’s second-biggest producer preserves grains to supply food to consumers at below market prices under a new law.

“There is no question of allowing exports,” food minister K.V. Thomas said in an interview in New Delhi on Friday. “We need to feed our own people. Our consumption is also going up.”

An extension of bans on Indian shipments may help global wheat futures extend a 49% rally in the past year that partly fueled global food costs to a record in February. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Agriculture Index has surged 61% in the past year as dry weather in Europe and China and floods in the US eroded prospects for corn, wheat and soybean crops.

“India may need as much as 70 million tonne of rice and wheat that may be supplied at subsidized rates to its citizens after the parliament approves a food security bill,” Thomas said. The government’s current grains requirement is about 60 million tonne for various welfare programs, he said.

“We need to be prepared” for years when India may have a shortfall in production, Thomas said. “Demand is going to rise further” because of the food security law, he said.

India banned shipments of wheat in early 2007 and non- basmati rice in April 2008 to bolster domestic supplies amid a global food crisis. State reserves of food grains totaled 65.6 million tonne on June 1, almost triple the quantity five years ago, according to the Food Corporation of India.

Global per capita food consumption is expected to grow fastest this decade in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America as incomes rise, with the biggest gains for vegetable oils, sugar, meat and dairy products, OECD and FAO said.

Source : financialexpress.com