India can export upto 10 mn tonnes of wheat every year: Study

India can export upto 10 million tonnes of wheat every year by cutting down on wastage and managing its annual output better, an Assocham study today said.
According to the study, a staggering 40 per cent of India's annual wheat output worth Rs 50,000 crore is lost due to spoilage, because of the dearth of adequate scientific storage and slow pace of creating fresh warehousing capacity.
Wheat exports from India stood at 51,57,447 tonnes worth Rs 8,579 crore during April 2013-February 2014, according to Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics under the Ministry of Commerce.
"India can export upto 10 MT of wheat each year if the country is able to maintain production level of about 95 MT as exports is the only ideal option to avoid massive spoilage/wastage...," Assocham said.

Major importers of wheat from India include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Korea (RP), Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, UAE, Yemen, Vietnam and African Countries like Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan and Tanzania.
A long-term and stable wheat export policy is the need of the hour as it would go a long way in developing dedicated clientele in the global wheat market thereby helping India in earning much needed foreign exchange, the study said.

Total production of wheat, which accounts for about 35 per cent of India's foodgrains' basket, may reach 100 million tonnes by 2016-17 from the level of about 93.5 million tonnes as of 2012-13.

"Unless concerted efforts are made to fight the vagaries of weather, risk of pests and diseases and poor productivity in most wheat producing states, it is difficult to achieve higher wheat production targets on a consistent basis," Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.
"India should formulate a strategy to corner about 10 per cent share in the 100 tonnes global wheat market and take steps to tap this potential in the long run," he added.
In August 2013, the Centre had allowed FCI to export 2 MT wheat from its surplus stocks via public trading firms STC, MMTC and PEC at a base price of USD 300 per tonne.

Later, the floor price was cut to USD 260 per tonne to make shipments viable as other major international players US and Canada were offering their wheat at lower prices in the international market.