A weakening rupee against the dollar, coupled with the latest increase in import duty at 30 per cent will put an end to the cheap inflow of wheat in the year ahead.

The Government issued a notification on Wednesday increasing the import duty on wheat to 30 per cent from the earlier 20 per cent to curb cheaper imports.

As a result, wheat prices have firmed up marginally in both spot and futures market. "Imports will be totally ruled out for now," a Southern miller said. "Even at 20 per cent duty, there were hardly any imports since April this year.

With the fall in rupee against the dollar and the hike in duty, imports will totally stop," the miller said. The rupee has declined by five per cent from the beginning of April till date.

Last fiscal, Indian wheat imports stood at around 1.5 millon tonnes, down the previous year's 5.5 million tonne. Bulk of the imports were made by mills in the South from countries such as Australia and the Black Sea region, mainly Ukraine.

The Agriculture Ministry has forecast a wheat output at 98.6 million tonnes this year.

Harvest is almost complete, while procurement is still going on in states such as UP, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh.

The government agencies have progressively purchased about 33.63 million tonnes of the total market arrivals of around 36.14 million tonnes.

The procurement has exceeded the targeted levels in Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.

In Uttar Pradesh, the largest wheat producing state, the average daily procurement has been hovering around one lakh tonnes.

The Government agencies in UP, have so far procured 3.8 million tonnes of the market arrivals of 4.48 million tonnes.

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