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| India needs to import rice to make up for lower output: FM |
| Press Trust of India / New Delhi Nov 18, 2009, 15:02 IST |
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The government today said the country will have to import rice during the 2009-10 marketing season (October-September) despite surplus in godowns to meet the shortfall in Kharif crops.
Just two days ahead of the ministerial meeting to review foodgrain stocks and prices, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, "We started rice season that is from October 2009 with almost six million tonnes of surplus... Still there is a projection that there is some shortfall of Kharif crops. So to make it up, we have to make some imports."
Mukherjee, who heads the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on foodgrains, however, did not reveal the quantum and the timing of imports. "Exactly what quantum and at what time, I can't say," he said on the sidelines of a Union Bank of India function here.
The government estimates that there would be a shortfall of over 15 million tonnes in the 2009-10 Kharif (summer) season due to drought and floods in several states.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who is a member of the EGoM, said yesterday that the government was in talks with top rice-exporting countries like Thailand for buying the staple grain without involving the private traders.
State-owned companies like MMTC, STC and PEC are awaiting the government's direction on the bids these have received against global tenders for import of 30,000 tonnes of rice.
Suppliers, meanwhile, have jacked up prices, much higher than the domestic rates.
According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), India, the second largest rice producer in the world, may import as much as 2,00,000 tonnes of rice if there is greater price parity to meet domestic demand.
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