"Our top priority is to start exports and three government agencies are already on the job," Mr Kumar said. He said the state-run MMTC Ltd, State Trading Corporation (STC) and Project and Equipment Corp were actively seeking buyers for Indian wheat, but did not give any details. The Indian Cabinet last week approved a proposal for state agencies to export wheat and rice at subsidised prices to reduce bulging stocks and cut storage costs.

India had foodgrains stocks of 40.06 million tonnes at the start of October, of which nearly 22 million were buffer stocks. Wheat accounted for 26.85 million tonnes of total grain stocks and rice 13.21 million. Officials said the state agencies had been asked to explore the possibility of exporting wheat at Rs 4,150 per tonne, the rate at which it is sold domestically to those below the poverty line. Mr Kumar said the rates were competitive in the global market and the government was hopeful of sales. He added that the quality of Indian wheat needed to be improved to capture export markets. Mr Kumar said the government had decided to create a special body within the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the largest grain procurement agency, to monitor and facilitate wheat exports.

Flour millers want wheat at a lower price
The Roller Flour Millers Federation of India has asked the government to sell wheat to them from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) stocks at the newly-fixed export rate of 89 dollars (Rs 4,150) a tonne as compared to Rs 8,300 per tonne. The federation pointed out that extension of the lowered price to flour millers would help in improving the capacity utilisation of the mills and reducing the huge wheat stocks in the country. The flour millers said the new price, if extended to them, would make Indian flour competitive in export market. Indian wheat floor had carved out a niche in the middle east, African and south Asian countries where there was more demand, for wheat meal type of flour for bread making. But for the last four years, the Indian millers could not sell any flour due to high domestic price of wheat.