On June 24, the Indian government imposed wheat stock limits on retailers
Agrolink – Leonardo Gottes
Led by rice and wheat, India’s cereal output for the Indian crop year (ICY) 2023-24 (July-June) is estimated at 328.85 million tonnes, marginally lower than last year’s record of 329.69 million tonnes, according to a report by the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
According to FAS, India’s Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare released its third advance estimate for 2023-2024 major crops on June 4, projecting record production despite a below normal and erratic 2023 southwest monsoon. This outlook is mainly due to record production of rice and wheat, while production of maize, other coarse cereals and pulses is estimated to be lower than last year.
Based on the latest official estimate, wheat production in the 2024-25 marketing year, which begins in November, is forecast by FAS at 113 million tonnes from 31.2 million hectares, up from 110.5 million tonnes in 2023-24. Benefiting from a revived monsoon in late June, rice production for 2024-25 is forecast at 138 million tonnes from 48.5 million hectares, an increase of 1 million tonnes from last year.
On June 24, the Indian government imposed wheat stock limits on retailers, traders and processors, valid till March 31, 2025. Final wheat stocks for the 2024-25 marketing year were revised to 7.5 million tonnes due to lower-than-expected procurement. Government wheat procurement Wheat stocks with the government were estimated at 29.9 million tonnes as of June 1, compared to 31.4 million tonnes in the same period last year.
