India’s wheat stocks plummet to 14-year low

Source:  livemint.com
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Extreme weather devastated both the winter-sown wheat and summer-sown rice harvests, pushing up retail food prices to a 22-month high. As a result, India’s federally-owned cereal inventories, which offer subsidised grains to 80 crore people, have plummeted to a five-year low.

According to data released by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) on October 13, the two staples’ combined stockpile, at 51.14 million tonnes as of October 1, was more than 66% above the government’s required buffer standard and strategic reserve inventory of 30.77 million tonnes for this time of year.
The government’s food management operations will be restricted in order to meet the demands for food giveaways and maintain high prices. This is due to low state-owned cereal reserves.

Wheat production was hampered by a protracted heatwave in March, and as supplies ran low in May, the government decided to outlaw exports. In order to increase domestic availability, the government also established restrictions on overseas rice shipments last month. A 20% export fee was imposed, and damaged rice was not allowed to be shipped.

India’s consumer inflation rate increased to a five-month high of 7.41% in September on an annual basis, up from 7% in August and continuing a nine-month streak of exceeding the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) target range of 4-6%.

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