Wheat import may touch 2 lakh tonnes this fiscal

Flour millers may import about two lakh tonnes of wheat, mainly from Australia, this fiscal to meet their requirement of high-protein variety of the grain. In last fiscal, the country had imported 1.58 lakh tonnes of wheat. At present, there is no import duty on wheat.

"Flour millers require high-protein wheat for blending, which is used to make bakery products. This year there is less availability of this variety due to poor crop in Gujarat and Rajasthan, and higher procurement in Madhya Pradesh," Roller Flour Millers Federation Past President M K Dattaraj said.

He said wheat import could rise to about two lakh tonnes this fiscal, but it would depend on the government policies regarding imports and open market sale scheme.

"Currently, Australian wheat is cheaper by Rs 40-50 a quintal in southern states compared to domestic wheat," he said, adding that flour millers are importing wheat due to inadequate supply of high protein variety in the domestic market and not because of price factor.

At present, the delivered price of Australian premium wheat is Rs 1,570 per quintal in Bangalore city. Millers import wheat directly or through trading agencies. India produced a record 80.98 million tonnes of wheat in 2009-10, exceeding last year's output of 80.68 million tonnes.

Despite bumper output and surplus stock in the government godowns, an empowered group of ministers, headed by the Finance Minister, had last week deferred a decision on imposing import duty of 40 per cent on wheat.