New Delhi. According to an association representing flour millers, India is predicted to produce 105 million metric tons of wheat this year—6.25% less than the government’s projection.
India, which follows China as the world’s largest producer and consumer of wheat, outlawed exports in 2022 and is now depending on record harvests to maintain supplies and control local prices that skyrocketed after the crop was severely dried up by dry weather in 2022 and 2023.
India is projected by the government to produce 112 million metric tons of wheat in 2024.
The farm ministry reported that India produced a record 112.74 million metric tons of wheat in 2023; however, representatives from the trade and industry stated that the previous year’s wheat production was at least 10% lower than the government’s estimate.
Reduced wheat production compelled the government to sell a record 10 million metric tons of wheat from its reserves to large purchasers like flour millers and biscuit manufacturers, depleting the reserves necessary for the largest food assistance program in history.
At the beginning of March, government warehouse inventories of wheat dropped to 9.7 million metric tons, the lowest level since 2017. Mandi Bhav