India’s July rice stocks at record high, wheat hits four-year peak

MUMBAI: India’s rice stocks in government warehouses rose 15% from a year ago to a record high for the start of July, while wheat stocks reached a four-year peak driven by increased farmer procurement, official data showed on Tuesday.

Record rice stocks will help the world’s biggest exporter increase shipments, while an improvement in wheat inventories will help the federal government to tame any price spikes later this year by increasing open market sales.

State reserves of rice, including unmilled paddy, totalled a record 55.66 million metric tons as of July 1, far exceeding the government’s target of 13.5 million tons for July 1. Wheat stocks stood at 35.9 million tons on July 1, well above the government’s target of 27.6 million tons and the highest since 2021, the data showed.

A New Delhi-based dealer at a global trading firm, speaking on condition of anonymity because the trader was not authorised to speak publicly, described the inventories as “alarmingly high,” adding even higher exports of 2-3 million tons would do little to lower them.