No proposal to import wheat: Minister

The government has no proposal to import wheat on its account, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution C.R. Chaudhary told Rajya Sabha on Friday.

According to the minister, the stock of wheat in the central pool was 13.747 million tonnes on January 1 this year, against the stocking norms of 12.8 million tonnes for the January-March quarter, which is adequate to meet the requirements under the Public Distribution System.

The foodgrain stock in the central pool was 27.55 million tonnes in December 2016, of which wheat comprised 16.5 million tonnes and rice 11.05 million tonnes, the minister informed the house.

Wheat procurement in Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2016-17 was 22.961 million tonnes against 28.088 million tonnes in RMS 2015-16 and 28.023 million tonnes in RMS 2014-15, Chaudhary said.

The government had reduced the import duty from 25 per cent to 10 per cent in September last year, and further to zero per cent in December last year.

--IANS

spk/vgu/sac