Govt aims to earn $600 mn by exporting 2mn tonne wheat: FCI

FCI today said the government aims to earn USD 600 million by exporting 2 million tonne wheat stored in its godowns.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had last month permitted export of additional 2 million tonnes wheat via state trading firms such as STC, PEC and MMTC to clear surplus stocks with the Food Corporation of India and had fixed the floor price of USD 300 a tonne.

"FCI will export two million tonnes of wheat in the coming months to earn valuable foreign exchange of nearly USD 600 million for the country," an official release said.

A sub-committee, headed by FCI Chairman and Managing Director C Viswanath, will meet soon to finalise formalities for floating global tenders, it said.

Last year, government had earned USD 1.4 billion from export of 4.2 million tonne wheat by PSUs. Indian wheat had fetched an average price of USD 311.38 per tonne.

"The acceptability of Indian wheat in the international market is an encouraging sign as evident from the sale last year. Therefore, another 2 million tonnes of wheat will be offered to the foreign buyers," a senior FCI officer said.

"We have the stocks. It is also the right time to enter the international market," he added.

After the tenders are floated, an Empowered Committee, headed by the Commerce Secretary, will approve the successful bidders. The foreign buyers of Indian wheat in the international market are mainly from South Korea, Bangladesh and Ethiopia.

According to the CCEA decision, the export of 2 million tonne wheat this year will have to be completed by March 31, 2014.

As on September 1, foodgrain stock with FCI was 58.93 million tonne. Of this, wheat was 38.3 million tonne and rice 20.5 million tonne. FCI is the government's nodal agency for procurement and distribution of foodgrains.