Day: April 3, 2017

Turkey buys European, Ukrainian wheat to replace Russian origin.

FCI procures 706,676 tonne wheat so far in three states.

IGC pegs India 2017-18 wheat output at 95.5 million tonne up 11%.

5,000 wheat purchase centres become operational in UP.

Import duty unlikely to affect wheat procurement in Punjab, Haryana.

Turkish millers imported at least 500,000 million tonne of high protein wheat from alternative Black Sea and European origins for April shipment. Turkish authorities on March 15 ditched tax exemptions of a 130% import duty on wheat imports from Russia. Since then the Turkish flour industry has found itself in need of diversifying its origins. Turkey needs at least 400,000-450,000 million tonne of monthly imports of wheat. At least 100,000 million tonne of Ukrainian wheat has already been purchased. 50,000 million tonne of Hungarian wheat was booked as well as 350,000 million tonne of Latvian and Lithuanian wheat. Turkish millers preferred the quality from the small Baltic states than Hungarian and Ukrainian origin and is very competitively priced. Latvian and Lithuanian annual exports for the 2016-17 marketing year are estimated at less than 2 MMT.

FCI has procured 706,676 tonne wheat from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat so far, compared with 517,020 tonne procured in the year-ago period. FCI is procuring wheat from farmers at a minimum support price. Of the total purchases, 704,000 tonne was bought in Madhya Pradesh, about 1,998 tonne wheat was purchased in Rajasthan and 678 tonne in Gujarat. Procurement in other parts of the country starts on April 1 and FCI will open about 10,000 centres across the country. Govt plans to procure 33 million tonne wheat, up from 22.9 million tonne purchased last year.

International Grains Council has pegged India wheat output for the marketing year starting April at 95.5 million tonne up from the estimate of 86 million tonne for the previous year. Wheat output is likely to rise due to higher acreage, adequate soil moisture during the sowing season and favourable conditions during growth period. A record production in 2016-17, global wheat output in 2017-18 is likely to fall by 2.5% on year to 734.5 million tonne, said IGC. Wheat output is likely to fall in major producers Australia, Canada, US, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. Production of the grain is seen higher in the European Union.

By ending the role of middlemen, 5,000 wheat purchase centres spread across Uttar Pradesh began functioning on April 1. CM Aditya Nath revised the target of wheat purchase and government agencies have been asked to buy 70 lakh tonne of the total target of 80 lakh tonnes in 2017. The previous Samajwadi Party government had purchased wheat through middlemen which will not be allowed at any cost by the present Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state, said CM.

Private flour millers in Punjab and Haryana feel the 10% import duty will have little impact on wheat procurement for public distribution system while private buying of the cereal will remain limited due to lack of trading infrastructure and higher levy in the two-states. The procurement for public distribution system is expected to better than the last year in the two-states due to favourable weather this year. A target of 33 million tonne wheat has been set for the current procurement season, higher by 43 per cent over the last corresponding season. The procurement missed target due to scanty rains in the last year and stood at 22.96 million tonnes. The procurement figure stood at in Punjab and Haryana stood at 104.44 lakh tonnes and 67.78 lakh tonnes respectively in 15-16 Rabi season. This year Haryana is expecting around 75 lakh tonnes of wheat during the Rabi procurement season and procurement is expected to higher in Punjab as well.