Search Result for : Wheat Production

Wheat procurement touches 30.1 MT till date

The Dollar Business Bureau The country is looking at good wheat output this year. Wheat procurement is generally done during April to March wheat marketing year. But this year procurement of wheat was taken up a month earlier by the Food Corporation of India. Till now about 30.1 MT of wheat has been procured by the FCI and other state agencies in the ongoing rabi marketing season of 2017-18. This is far beyond last year's total purchase of 22.9 MT of wheat. Wheat is procured from the farmers at a minimum support price which is now Rs 1625/quintal a marginal increase of Rs 100/quintal from the price offered last year. The government buys wheat from the farmers at the MSP rate specified to ...

Centre releases Rs 17,994.21-cr for Punjab's wheat purchase

PTI In a relief to Punjab government, the Centre today released Rs 17,994.21 crore towards Cash Credit Limit (CCL) for Rabi procurement subject to certain conditions laid down by the Reserve Bank of India. The Union Finance Ministry and the RBI, in separate letters to the Principal Secretary (Finance), government of Punjab, said the central government had decided to release the CCL immediately in view of the urgent need to procure wheat following early arrival of the grain in the mandis and the assurance of the State Bank of India (SBI), said an official release.The CCL has been released for the Rabi season, up to the end of April, on the condition that the state government would regularize, at the earliest, the ...

Govt may consider imposing duty on wheat imports: Paswan

The Dollar Business Bureau  The government is considering imposing imports duty on wheat in order to protect the interests of farmers amidst expectations of a record production this year, said Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister of Food and Public Distribution.  On December 8, the government had reduced the customs duty on wheat imports to nil from 10% in order to boost its availability in the domestic market and to check retail prices.  The Minister said that there would be a bumper crop of wheat this year and the ministry has set a target of procuring 33 million tonnes of grain in the marketing year 2017-18, which starts from April.  the new crop of wheat will start coming into the market from March, said Paswan, while adding that the government ...

Wheat harvest season expected to bring down imports

The Dollar Business Bureau India has of late emerged as one of the biggest net importer of wheat, buying over five million tonnes since mid-2016, the country’s biggest annual purchase in over a decade.  Last year, the government had focused on importing wheat in a colossal quantity in order to meet the rising demand of the commodity in the domestic market.  India’s total wheat production registered a shortfall in the last two years due to unfavourable weather conditions. This year’s production, however, seems to be meeting the domestic expectations, as the government is also looking to cut down on the inbound shipments of the commodity as the harvest season approaches in April.  The government will contemplate over the future purchases of wheat, depending upon the ...

Wheat sowing rises 7%, pulse acreage up 11% this Rabi season

The Dollar Business Bureau Notwithstanding the government’s demonetisation scheme, sowing area of wheat increased 7% to 313.14 lakh hectares this season, while that of pulses also went up 11% to 157.68 lakh hectares so far during the ongoing Rabi (winter-sown) season. "As per preliminary reports received from the states, the total area sown under Rabi crops as on January 20, 2017, stands at 628.34 lakh hectares as compared to 592.36 lakh hectare this time in 2016," said an official statement.  On November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes, generating countrywide speculations that the cleanup drive will enormously hit the country’s agriculture sector. But thanks to good monsoon and higher support price, wheat was sown in 313.14 lakh hectares ...

India imported 2.7 mn tonnes of wheat this fiscal

The Dollar Business Bureau India’s importers have imported 2.7 million tonnes of wheat from France, Australia and Ukraine till now in the current fiscal and another 1.2 million tonnes of wheat is likely to arrive by next month-end. However, importers have not entered into any import contract for the delivery of wheat after March as they believe that the government may again levy customs duty on wheat when the harvesting of new crop begins in April 2017. In December, the government had cut down the import duty on wheat to zero from 10% in order to boost the availability of the grain locally and to check price rise. “About 2.7 million tonnes of wheat has been imported so far in 2016-17 from Ukraine, Australia and France. About 1.2 million tonnes of wheat will arrive by February-end,” M K ...

Wheat procurement falls, but no shortage: FCI

Pooja Jain On the back of lower output of grains, the procurement of wheat has declined by 18%. About 22.9 million tonnes has been collected so far for FY2016-17 due to lower output even as the forecasted estimates were high and the process of purchase is at its culmination stage. The bulk procurement is usually completed between April- June. State-run Food and Corporation of India (FCI), which is responsible to procure and distribute the foodgrains, had purchased 28 million tonnes of wheat in FY 2016 marketing year. Reaffirming FCI’s stance that there will be no shortage of wheat in the country, Maher Singh, Deputy General Manager, (Contract, Procurement, Commercial & Control Room), stated that Punjab being the second largest wheat producing state in ...

Govt may hike import duty on wheat to check imports

Source: PTI The Centre may raise import duty on wheat to 25% from the current 10% to restrict overseas purchases when domestic stocks are surplus. In August, the government imposed a 10% import duty on wheat – for the first time since 2006 – after private flour millers started importing from Australia amid sluggish supply of high-protein wheat varieties used to make pasta and pizzas. Millers are resorting to imports despite surplus stocks of other varieties of wheat with FCI, the nodal agency for food grain procurement and distribution. “The Food Ministry has proposed raising import duty on wheat to 25% from 10% to cut imports and protect the domestic market. The matter will be discussed at a meeting with the revenue department ...