An empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on Monday deferred a decision on allowing wheat exports till the current procurement season is over, besides postponing formulating a stand on the proposed Food Security Bill.
Last month, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had said the government should allow exports of wheat and rice as the country had huge stocks of grain and global prices were favourable. But officials said the EGoM has decided to wait one month, until the end of the current wheat procurement season, before taking a call on exports.
According to an official statement on Monday, wheat procurement during the rabi marketing season of 2011-12 has crossed 18.51 million tonne (mt). The government has hiked this year?s procurement target by more than 16% to a new high of 26 mt. Last year, the Food Corporation of India and other state agencies had purchased 22.52 mt of wheat. According to the third advance estimates released recently, the government has estimated a record wheat output of 84.27 mt in 2010-11. The earlier record was 80.8 mt, in 2009-10.