Wheat output for 2011-12 to top govt forecast: Pawar

Country's wheat output in 2011-12 will cross the current official forecast of a record 88.31 million tonne due to favourable weather conditions, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Friday.

The bumper harvest, on top of ample stockpiles, will benefit local farmers and traders, who have struggled to make overseas sales as international prices have been lower.

Indian government has allowed exports of two million tonne of wheat, easing a ban on overseas sales imposed in 2007, but shipments have only been around 500,000 tonne.

The country's January 1 wheat stocks at government warehouses were 25.7 million tonne, more than three times the official target for the quarter ending March 31, government sources said last month.

"There will be an improvement," Pawar said, referring to a farm ministry forecast this month that the 2011-12 wheat harvest could be at 88.31 million tonne.

India, the world's second-biggest wheat producer, harvested a record 86.87 million tonne of the grain in 2011.