'India to import three million tonnes more wheat'

India, hit by lower grain stocks and spiralling domestic prices, said on Friday it would immediately import a further 3 million tonnes of wheat. "To ensure that there are adequate buffer stocks in the central pool, the government would import 3 million tonnes of wheat immediately," Farm Minister Sharad Pawar told reporters.
"This would be in addition to the 500,000 tonnes of imports already contracted."
Last month, India's food ministry awarded a tender for 500,000 tonnes of wheat to Australian exporter AWB Ltd in a bid to build up stocks and cap prices.
Government agencies have been trying to replenish depleted reserve stocks since the first week of April by buying newly harvested wheat in the main northern Indian growing regions. But the effort has been hit by farmers holding back their produce in anticipation of prices rising even higher.