Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today said the government would review the decision to allow wheat import once the rabi procurement season is over. | |
| "The decision to allow import of wheat does not mean that the country has become a food importing nation. It was allowed to maintain buffer stock," he said. |
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| He said the buffer stock was not for general consumption and would be used as a reserve to meet demand exigencies such as flood and drought. |
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| Expressing happiness at progress of wheat crop so far, he said the procurement of wheat was likely to be higher by 2-2.5 lakh tonne this season as against last year level. |
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| To a query on contract specification for wheat imports, he said "we will stick to our specified norms for this purpose". |
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| Earlier this month, the country allowed import of wheat after a gap of seven years. State Trading Corporation (STC) was mandated to carry out the wheat import exercise. |
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| Subsequently, STC invited global bids for five lakh tonne wheat, which closed yesterday. |
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| A total of eight global trading companies took part in the tender, sources said. |
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| Import destination along with the rates will be cleared by the Union cabinet as per the recommendations of the state owned trading corporation, they added. |
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