India Winter Wheat Area Until Nov 12 Up 5% At 5.7M Ha-Govt

India’s winter-sown wheat acreage up to Nov. 12 rose about 5% on year to 5.67 million hectares, according to government data Friday, which could help cushion a shortfall in summer-sown foodgrains production.

The sowing of wheat, the main winter crop, usually starts Nov. 1; the crop is harvested from March-April onwards.

India, the world’s second-largest wheat producer, is aiming to increase its output by 2 million metric tons to offset a drop in output of summer-sown foodgrains due to drought and flooding.

India had a bumper wheat harvest of 80.58 million tons in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009 and expects an increase in output this year through higher productivity
and increased acreage.

Early this month, the federal government raised the state-set wheat purchase price for the fiscal year starting April 2010 by INR200/ton to INR1,100/ton to encourage more sowing.

The winter rice area jumped to 58,000 hectares to Nov. 12, up from 13,000 hectares during the same period last year.

Summer-sown rice production is estimated to have fallen by about 16 million tons to 69.45 million tons.

Three Indian state agencies have recently issued import tenders for 30,000 tons rice imports to meet any possible shortfall. The government is considering imports of up to 2 million tons rice over the next 12 months.

Bumper wheat and rice crops in the last two years have helped build comfortable stocks and may not lead to any immediate shortages.

Source: CME Group