India may suspend wheat exports mid-way

Crop damage due to recent hailstorms may force government backtracking its earlier decision

India might suspend exports of wheat even without achieving thescheduled target of 2 million tonnes due to fears of crop damage from therecent hailstorms across the country.

"The decision is underway. While the Ministry of Food has alreadytaken final decision in this regards, it will communicate to the public sectorgrain procurement agency the Food Corporation of India (FCI) soon," an informed source said.

India has already accepted bids for 1.40 million tonnes of wheat exports so far this year out of the 2 million tonnes target set by the FoodMinistry in August last year. The target was set to be achieved by June 2014 to earn Rs 3,400 crore from wheat exports at an average price of $300 a tonne, similar to last year's realisation. India's wheat export was recorded at over 4million tonnes last year.

But, because of price fall in global markets, the tenders including PEC and MMTC received poor response. Consequently, importers negotiated bidprice upto $260 a tonne for some lots. FCI is a facilitator of wheat supply tothese public sector grain trading agencies.

Sources said that proper assessment of the crop damage is yet to bedone. Hence, the government decided to suspend wheat exports temporarily. Incase of insignificant crop damage, exports can be opened to meet the target, he added. Wheat, a 100 per cent rabi crop, is sown in India between October and December for harvesting between March and May.

Before hailstorms, Karnal (Punjab) -based Wheat Research Instituteforecast India's wheat output at 95.6 million tonnes this year compared to 92.46 million tonnes in the previous year. Wheat prices in global markets jumped by $27 to trade currently at $273 a tonne due to fears of supply disruptions from Ukraine, one of the world's largest suppliers on the country's stand-off with Russia.

Financial year	Quantity (tonnes)	Value (Rs crore)
2010-11	397	0.7
2011-12	740747	1023.27
2012-13	6514815	10529.01
2012-13*	4313932	6759.02
2013-04*	4162354	6831.48
April – December, Source : Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority