Bumper harvest's here, Sharad Pawar bats for exports Close.

NEW DELHI: Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar is pushing for more farm exports as India gathers a bumper harvest of food grains, cotton and sugar cane.

While rice export has crossed a record 4 million tonne, Pawar believes that there is still scope for bigger cotton and sugar shipments. The third advance estimates of the agriculture department peg grains output at an all-time high of 252.56 million tonne. The previous estimate was at 250.42 million tonne.

Rice output is likely to be at an all-time high of 103.41 million tonne while production of wheat is likely to be at 90.23 million tonne - up from the target of 84 million tonne, Pawar said.

India consumes about 76 million tonne of wheat a year. The bumper stocks might spur Indian state-owned firms and private companies towards exporting wheat to Iran, which could help partially settle New Delhi's oil import bill with Western sanctions-hit Tehran.

India has allowed exports of 2 million tonne of wheat, easing an early 2007 ban on overseas sales. India's April 1 wheat stocks at government warehouses were at 19.9 million tonne, nearly five times the official target for the quarter ending June 30. The production of oilseeds and pulses is likely to be at 17.02 million tonne and 30.06 million tonne respectively. The country is also likely to have a sugar cane output of 351.19 million tonne.

"We have a record production of cotton estimated at 35.2 million bales (170 kg each). Sugar production is also at a record level of 26 million tonne. We need to come out with a clear stand on farm export at the meeting on April 30," said Pawar. Pawar will be attending the meeting called by prime minister Manmohan Singh, along with commerce minister Anand Sharma, food minister K V Thomas and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to discuss exports.

He said that a meltdown in global sugar prices is a cause of worry for mills burdened with oversupply. Next year's sugar cane crop too could lead to a good production for the third consecutive year.

"With Brazilian sugar arriving in the international market, sugar prices are likely to come down drastically. A delay in sugar exports may make exports non-lucrative for sugar companies," he said. The farm minister pointed out that the abundance of milk powder with private and cooperative dairies are forcing milk producers to sell milk at low rates.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com