India's grain mountain grows despite push for exports

Wheat also has to compete with booming rice exports for limited capacity on the railroads and in the ports. Like wheat, the rice crop has been abundant and the nation emerged as the world's biggest rice exporter in 2012.

"Despite our best efforts, we (India) cannot export to an extent where stocks come down to somewhat manageable levels," said Tejinder Narang, adviser at New Delhi-based trading company Emmsons International.

"The government will have to struggle with mammoth stocks. There's no way out."

That means India is unable to capitalise fully on the opportunity to export to international markets, where there is room for more Indian supply to compensate for poor harvests from major producers.

Benchmark Chicago wheat prices jumped 19.2 percent last year as adverse weather conditions reduced harvests from Australia and Russia, the world's second and third largest exporters. Wheat was the best-performing commodity on the Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index in 2012.

Storage space of 47 million tonnes can accommodate less than half of the expected stockpiles, and the rest will sit under tarpaulins in the open.

Wheat consumption and exports from government warehouses will likely account for around 82 million tonnes of India's 92.3 million tonnes of output in 2013. Additional 2 million tonnes of exports by private traders will leave a surplus of around 8 million tonnes.

India produced a record 105.31

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