(FE)
The government is likely to raise the import duty on wheat from the current 30% to 40% to rule out any possibility of cheaper imports amid the harvesting of the new crop. The import duty increase will force flour millers to buy wheat from FCI, which is set to offload stocks rather than source the grain from other countries. The Election Commission (EC) is likely to clear the proposal soon to increase the import duty on wheat to 40% after the plan was approved by a panel of secretaries last week, sources said. The Centre is expecting to buy 38-40 million tonne of wheat this year, after which the stock with FCI may reach to about 58 million tonne by end of May.
India had imported 5.75 million tonne (mt) of wheat in FY2016-17, against 518,000 tonne in 2015-16. The wheat import was 1.2 mt during 2017-18, while the increase in duty last year helped the country to check any import in 2018-19, officials said. India’s wheat production is estimated at record 99.12 mt in 2018-19 crop year (July-June).
