News

The government is likely to give importers some more time to comply with mandatory methyl bromide fumigation of all grain cargo at the port of origin. The current exemption from the compliance will expire on Jun 30. Indian plant quarantine norms stipulate methyl bromide fumigation of all cargoes at the port of loading to prevent foreign insects and pests from reaching Indian shores. In 2005, the government had relaxed this norm, allowing importers to either use alternative fumigants or fumigate imported grain shipments with methyl bromide once they enter Indian waters. The move had helped India import wheat and pulses from the US, Canada, Australia and European countries, where use of methyl bromide is banned due to environmental and health concerns. The government now wants to re-instate the mandatory use of methyl bromide at the port of origin, as the chemical is the best bet so far against eggs and pupae of insects, which other fumigants fail to tackle. There are concerns that India move to tighten fumigations norms would slow the import of pulses and wheat from Australia, Canada, France, Ukraine, Russia and a host of other countries that have banned the use of methyl bromide. The government has already issued a draft notification allowing the use of phosphine on grain shipments from Canada.

The Pune district office of Food Corp of India has ordered a probe into shortage of 111 tonne of wheat stocks meant for supply through public distribution system. We are likely to have received 111 tonne less wheat from 3,500 tonne of wheat bought from the Patti region in Punjab, and the fault is probably from dispatching end. The Food Corp official in Pune has advised food storage depot in-charge of Ahmednagar and storage superintendent Maharashtra State Warehousing Corp, Ahmednagar, to freeze the stocks and update all records pertaining for investigation. A committee of three officers has been formed for conducting the physical verification of stocks. The wheat rake (1rake=60,000-70,000bags) was placed for unloading in Ahmednagar depot of the FCI in Maharashtra.

Wheat prices remained unchanged in major wholesale markets. The key market of Indore remained shut due to unrest in Madhya Pradesh.

The US Department of Agriculture has reduced its forecast for India wheat production in 2017-18 marketing year (Apr-Mar) to 96.0 million tonne. In the previous forecast released in May, the US agency had projected wheat production of 97 million tonne in India. Production is still seen at a record high and over 10% higher from 87 million tonne a year ago. The government has estimated India wheat output in the 2016-17 crop year ending June to a record 97.4 million tonne. Despite the record crop and a custom duty of 10%, the department sees India wheat imports in 2017-18 at 4.0 million tonne.

USDA weekly crop progress report is expected to show lower condition ratings for spring wheat crops. Spring wheat was expected to be rated 53 percent in good to excellent condition, off 2 percentage points from last week as hot temperatures and limited rainfall in the central United States stressed developing corn and wheat plants. The winter wheat harvest likely advanced to 22 percent done, up from 10 percent a week ago.