The government opened the new marketing year, started Apr 1, with 13.23 mln tn wheat in its stocks, sharply higher than 8.06 mln tn a year ago. The government stocks were higher this year due to huge procurement after a bumper crop in 2016-17 (Jul-Jun) and weak open market sales. India’s wheat output in 2016-17 (Jul-Jun) was at a record high of 98.5 mln tn. After a big crop, supplies in the domestic markets remained high and the government procured 30.8 mln tn wheat in the 2017-18 marketing year, ended March.