AGL 39.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.42 (-1.05%)
AIRLINK 131.22 Increased By ▲ 2.16 (1.67%)
BOP 6.81 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.89%)
CNERGY 4.71 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (4.9%)
DCL 8.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-1.29%)
DFML 41.47 Increased By ▲ 0.65 (1.59%)
DGKC 82.09 Increased By ▲ 1.13 (1.4%)
FCCL 33.10 Increased By ▲ 0.33 (1.01%)
FFBL 72.87 Decreased By ▼ -1.56 (-2.1%)
FFL 12.26 Increased By ▲ 0.52 (4.43%)
HUBC 110.74 Increased By ▲ 1.16 (1.06%)
HUMNL 14.51 Increased By ▲ 0.76 (5.53%)
KEL 5.19 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-2.26%)
KOSM 7.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-1.42%)
MLCF 38.90 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (0.78%)
NBP 64.01 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (0.79%)
OGDC 192.82 Decreased By ▼ -1.87 (-0.96%)
PAEL 25.68 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.12%)
PIBTL 7.34 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.68%)
PPL 154.07 Decreased By ▼ -1.38 (-0.89%)
PRL 25.83 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.16%)
PTC 17.81 Increased By ▲ 0.31 (1.77%)
SEARL 82.30 Increased By ▲ 3.65 (4.64%)
TELE 7.76 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-1.27%)
TOMCL 33.46 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-0.8%)
TPLP 8.49 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (1.07%)
TREET 16.62 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (2.15%)
TRG 57.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.82 (-1.41%)
UNITY 27.51 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.07%)
WTL 1.37 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-1.44%)
BR100 10,504 Increased By 59.3 (0.57%)
BR30 31,226 Increased By 36.9 (0.12%)
KSE100 98,080 Increased By 281.6 (0.29%)
KSE30 30,559 Increased By 78 (0.26%)

India does not need to import rice due to higher domestic stocks, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday, a move which could potentially ease global rice prices further on lower-than-expected demand. "Our stocks are much higher than buffer norms. We have not taken any decision on rice imports. In fact, we do not need imports," Pawar said.
Government sources said earlier this month that India's rice stocks were at 22.9 million tonnes on December 1, substantially higher than a target of 5.2 million tonnes. More quantities of wheat could be released for open market sales from the government's buffer stocks, Pawar said, to trim the stocks at government warehouses.
"Looking at the crop condition, we may release some wheat for open market sales after two months," he said. Stocks of wheat at government warehouses on December 1 were at 25.2 million tonnes against a targeted 11.0 million tonnes, government sources had said earlier this month.
Analysts say higher stocks of rice and wheat in India, the world's second-biggest producer of the two staple, may put some downward pressure on Chicago-traded benchmark prices. Separately, the farm minister said the government will extend the deadline to export white sugar in an attempt to keep domestic supplies healthy amid rising prices.
"We will extend white sugar obligation," he said without elaborating further. Industry officials say sugar mills need to export 1.2 million tonnes of white sugar to meet an export obligation in lieu of raw sugar imported in 2003/04. Pawar also said he had asked importers to ship in sugar at ports other than Kandla, in western India, to ease its congestion owing to a shortage of rail wagons for domestic transportation.

Copyright Reuters, 2009

Comments

Comments are closed.