FoodMin to move proposal for wheat export of 2.5 mn ton

New Delhi. The Food Ministry will move a proposal for allowing export of an additional 2.5 million tonnes of wheat from the central stocks in order to ease the storage crunch being faced by the country due to an all time high production. "The Department of Food is giving a Cabinet proposal fornpermitting additional 2.5 million tonne to keep the exports open because of the simple reason that we have huge stocks over and above the buffer and strategic reserves. At present, the government has a wheat stock of 37.65 million tonnes (MT) as of December 1, 2012, which is over the stipulated buffer and strategic stock requirement of 25 million tonnes required as of January 1, 2013. That the earlier approval by Cabinet for export of 2 MT of wheat from Central pool will get over soon. "Cabinet has approved exports of 2 million tonne of wheat from the central stocks, which we are about to complete anytime now. So it is good business to keep exporting. With a view to vacating our godown so that the fresh arrivals can be safely housed and warehoused," he said. Wheat shipments from India have fetched higher price in the range of USD 300-319 per tonne. Much of the FCI wheat have so far been exported to Bangladesh besides South Korea, Yemen, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Oman, Jakarta, among others. The foodgrains stocks have piled up in the government godowns due to record production and procurement in the last two consecutive years. The country produced a record 93.9 MT of wheat in the 2011-12 crop year (July-June). Besides export of FCI wheat through PSUs, private trade has also shipped over 3 MT of the grain since September 2011.