India May Sell Australian Wheat To Other Nations

India might sell one million tonnes of wheat which it has contracted to buy from Australia to other countries if trade "behaves normally", agriculture minister Chaturanan Mishra said on Wednesday.

"If the trade behaves normally, we may divert it, but if there is hoarding, we will use that wheat to control the domestic prices," Mishra told a news conference.

He was replying to a question on whether India would import the wheat it had contracted from Australia for shipment after July.

Since December, India has contracted to import 2.3 million tonnes of wheat from Australia, out of which 1.3 million tonnes has arrived.

 

Shipments of the remaining one million tonnes is due after July.

Weed seeds were detected in the initial Australian shipments, but Mishra had earlier said it was not harmful and was common in wheat of any origin.