NEW DELHI: Unfavorable weather and dwindling stocks may cause India to import a record volume of wheat over the next year. Following the second consecutive below-average monsoon, India has been facing dry conditions for this year’s wheat crop. Periodic heat spells since planting have also added extra stress to the plants.
Indian wheat farming relies heavily on a sufficient monsoon prior to the start of planting in October. The monsoon, or rainy season, typically lasts from July through September.
Wheat stocks are also falling. In order to protect food security and sustain the price support program, the government-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) buys and stores a lot of the country’s wheat crop, but the total amount held by FCI has fallen each year since 2012.
When it comes to its two major grain crops, wheat and rice, India has been rather self-sufficient over the past 30 years and is usually able to produce and store enough grain to feed its growing population.
But as the stockpile wanes and if weather hardships become a predominant theme this season, an Indian wheat deficit could help ignite a pulse in the world wheat market for 2016/17.
