India Farm Minister Says Time Right for Rice, Wheat Exports

India’s Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said it’s the “right time” for the world’s second-biggest grower of rice and wheat to export a limited quantity of the food grains, potentially cooling global prices.

“This is the right time to give serious thought over allowing exports of certain quantities of rice and wheat as we have ample stocks,” Pawar told reporters in New Delhi today. “World prices are very good.”

Wheat, which surged 53 percent in the past year, climbed to $9.1675 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Feb. 14, the highest price since August 2008. The grain, harvested from March, makes up 70 percent of India’s winter grain output.

Production may reach 84 million metric tons in the year ending June 30, up from a Feb. 9 farm ministry estimate of a record 81.5 million tons, Pawar said on Feb. 21. The crop output projection was based on current weather conditions prevailing, he said. The harvest was 80.8 million tons in the previous season.

India banned exports of non-basmati rice in April 2008 and wheat in early 2007 to bolster domestic supplies. Record harvests in the ensuing years and purchases from farmers had swollen stockpiles of rice, wheat and other grains to 47.3 million tons in state warehouses as on Feb. 1, according to Food Corp. of India.

India is considering allowing wheat exports as the country may harvest a record crop, Press Trust of India reported, citing Food Minister K.V. Thomas.

The government will also look into allowing sugar exports and reducing the minimum export price of onions, the agency cited Thomas as saying.

(Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-23/india-farm-minister-says-time-right-for-rice-wheat-exports-1-.html)