India wheat steady; minister says imports possible

Aug 27 2009 2:11PM

MUMBAI, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Indian wheat futures were steady on Thursday as expectations the government will sell stocks from its granaries and import food offset concerns of lower rice output, analysts said.

At 2:02 p.m, September futures contract on National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange was at 1,165.6 rupees per 100 kg, up 0.10 percent.

India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said there are possibilities of importing food items to increase supplies.

The government plans to release 3 million tonnes of wheat in the open market, the Daily News & Analysis newspaper reported on Aug. 19, a move analysts say will bring down prices significantly in the short-term.

Wheat stocks stood at 31.62 million tonnes as on July 31 and are expected to start April, 2,010 at 10 million tonnes.

• The Central Pool stock are maintained by FCI and State Govts. and their agencies.

• The total stock in Central Pool as on 31/07/2009 is 501.27(Figs. in Lakh MT)

Stock in Central pool as on 31/07/2009

Foodgrains	With FCI	With State Govt. / Agencies	Grand Total
Rice*	138.95	43.57	185.52
Wheat	101.28	212.78	314.06
Total	240.23	256.35	496.58
* Unmilled Paddy with FCI & State agencies also shown in terms of Rice

Stocks of Foodgrains & sugar in Cenral Pool as on 31.07.2009 (Figs. in Lakh MT)

	In Storage	In Transit	Total
Rice	182.52	2.52	185.04
Wheat	314.06	2.17	316.23
Wheat at Port	0.00	0.00	0.00
Total	496.58	4.69	501.27
Coarse Grains Sugar	5.79	0.01	5.80
	0.17	0.10	0.27
Grand Total	502.54	4.80	507.34

According to latest data, India has procured 25.13 million tonnes of wheat in 2009/10 marketing year that began in April, up from 22.6 million tonnes in the previous year.

Prices of the grain have been moving up in the last few days on hopes of higher demand driven by a drop in rice sowing due to deficient monsoon rains, analysts said.

Mukherjee on Thursday said, he expects India's rice output to drop by 15-20 percent in 2009/10.

Paddy sowing area fell to 27.28 million hectares as on August 20 from 34.14 million hectares in the corresponding period previous year because of weak monsoon rains.

Area under pulses more than last year; coarse cereals marginally lower; paddy down by 68 LHa
	16:7 IST

There is further progress in kharif sowing as per data received from States. While area under pulses is more than that of last year, acreage of paddy is down. Acreage of coarse cereals is marginally lower. The cropped areas this year and last year for major kharif crops as on 20th August are as follows: lakh hectare Crop This year’s area [as on 20thAugust, 2009] Last year’s area [as on 20thAugust 2008} Paddy 272.83 341.44 Jowar 27.65 26.74 Bajra 67.62 70.48 Maize 68.80 67.11 Total of coarse cereals 177.31 182.51 Arhar 31.65 28.37 Urd 19.54 18.40 Moong 22.31 20.76 Total Pulses 88.69 82.58 Groundnut 37.27 49.22 Soybean 94.49 94.13 Total Oilseeds 154.10 168.26 Cotton 94.93 84.53 Sugarcane 42.50 43.79 Jute 6.92 7.06