Govt may allow wheat exports by year-end

The country, which is the world's second-biggest wheat grower, may lift a ban on wheat exports before the year-end as rains have improved prospects for a better-than-expected harvest.

The Union government on February 9 banned exports until the end of the year as it sought to build stockpiles of grain and curb price rise. The move followed a jump in inflation to a two-year high in the week ended February 3.

"If the current crop condition persists I will allow wheat exports,'' Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told reporters in New Delhi today. Output may exceed 72.5 million tonne this year as rains increased soil moisture, he said yesterday.

Wheat was planted on 28.45 million hectares (70 million acres), up 7 per cent from a year ago, the Agriculture Ministry had said on Monday.

The US Department of Agriculture forecast India's wheat exports in 2006/07 at 300,000 tonne, while imports were put at a million tonne.

India is taking steps to stockpile wheat, sugar, pulses and other commodities to bring inflation down to less than 4 per cent. The government yesterday announced sale of 365,000 tonne of wheat at below market prices to cushion people from rising food prices.