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.