India to Begin Selling Wheat Locally From Reserves in a Week

By Pratik Parija

Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- India, the world's second-biggest producer of wheat, will begin selling the grain from reserves in a week to boost supplies during the festival season.

Food Corp. of India, the country's biggest buyer of grains, will set the sale price this evening, Chairman Alok Sinha told reporters in New Delhi.

The government may sell as much as 6 million metric tons of wheat domestically between September and March to keep domestic prices affordable, Federal Food Secretary T. Nanda Kumar said in an interview on Aug. 18.

Food Corp. bought a record 22.5 million tons of wheat from farmers this year. The nation may have harvested a record 78.4 million tons in the year ended June 30, up 3.4 percent from the previous year, according to the farm ministry.

The company may purchase a record 27.7 million tons of rice from domestic farmers by Oct. 1, Sinha said.

The government may hold 6.24 million tons of rice on Oct. 1, compared with a buffer stock 5.2 million tons, the food ministry said Aug. 22. Food Corp. bought 26.68 million tons of rice from farmers as on Aug. 18, compared with 25.1 million tons purchased in the year ended Sept. 30, 2007, according to the ministry.

To contact the reporters on this story: Pratik Parija in New Delhi at pparija@bloomberg.net.