The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today referred the Food Ministry’s proposal to allow export of additional 5 million tonnes of wheat from the central pool to a Group of Ministers (GoM), which will meet later in the day.
“Cabinet did not take any decision on wheat exports. The matter has been referred to the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar,” highly-placed sources said.
The meeting of the GoM, headed by Pawar, is scheduled at 5 p.m. in Parliament, the sources added.
The Food Ministry’s proposal to allow additional 5 mt of wheat export from the Government godowns is aimed at creating enough space for the new wheat crop, which will be procured from this month-end.
To speed up exports, the Ministry has proposed allowing recognised private traders to export the Government-held wheat stocks along with state-run trading agencies such as MMTC, STC and PEC.
So far, the Government has allowed export of 4.5 mt through public sector trading agencies. Of this, about 2 mt has already been shipped at $295-330 a tonne.
The Government had over 30 mt of wheat stock in the Food Corporation of India godowns at the beginning of last month as against the actual requirement of 7 mt the end of this month.
Wheat stocks have piled up in the Government godowns due to record procurement following a bumper crop in the last two years. The Government is aiming to procure a record 44 mt in the 2013-14 marketing year starting April.
Wheat production touched an all-time high of 94.88 mt in 2011-12 and it is estimated at 92.30 mt this year.