The Centre has decided to continue with the 25 per cent duty on import of wheat, to curb the inflow of cheaper cereal from countries like Australia and France.
“The 25 per cent import duty on wheat will be continued further,” Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said in a tweet on Friday.
In March, the Centre had extended the 25 per cent import duty till June 30 to curb the cheaper imports mainly during the procurement season, and on expectations of a higher domestic crop size. According to the Agriculture Ministry’s third advance estimate, wheat production during 2015-16 has risen to 94.05 million tonnes from 86.53 million tonnes in the previous year.
However, the trade is sceptical about the Centre’s estimates and has pegged the output between 81-84 million tonnes, as the acreage was lower and the weather was also not favourable for higher production. In an apparent indication of a lower crop, the procurement of wheat by government agencies has also been lower at 23 million tonnes, as compared to 28 million tones in the year-ago period.
Wheat futures on NCDEX firmed up and gained by over 2 per cent. Wheat prices have risen by about a tenth over the past two months on lower than expected production.
Millers have so far contracted about 5 lakh tonnes of wheat from countries like Australia and France.