Private Indian firms are unlikely to gain from a decision to extend the window for duty-free wheat imports as global prices are too high, a senior industry official said on Tuesday.
Trade officials say private companies have imported about 1.5 million tonnes of wheat since August 2006, when they were first allowed to tap overseas markets at zero duty. "Global prices are around 1,150 rupees ($26.7) per 100 kg while prices in India are at 1,000 rupees," Prem Gupta, president of the Roller Flour Millers Federation of India, told Reuters.
"We do not see large scale imports beyond 1.5 million tonnes already shipped into the country." Duty-free imports are now allowed up to December 31. He said if the government was able to buy 15 million tonnes of new crop wheat from farmers for its buffer stocks, domestic prices might fall further.
India, the world's second-largest wheat producer, grows only one crop of the grain in a year. Sowing is in the winter months of November and December and the harvest takes place from March.