India has agreed to allow 1 million tonnes of common rice exports and an unspecified amount of wheat, government sources said on Monday, as it weighs managing millions of tonnes of grains stockpiles with fighting persistently high inflation.
The sources said after a meeting of a panel of ministers that the exact quantity of wheat exports will be decided later. Sources had told Reuters it could be one million tonnes also. India has banned wheat exports since 2007 to ensure local supplies. "The (panel) in principle decided to export wheat but the quantity has to be decided keeping in mind many things," one of the sources said.
The sources also said the panel had approved a draft law that guarantees further subsidised grains to millions of India's poor. The Food Security Bill is seen as a popular step and a potential vote winner but one that could strain public finances. The amounts of exports would be unlikely to have a major impact on global markets, where the United States is the biggest wheat exporter at some 24 million tonnes last season and Thailand is the largest rice exporter at 8.5 million tonnes in 2010. The Food Security bill, an election promise from the ruling Congress party, has to be ratified by parliament to become law. It would need about 61 million tonnes of grains a year, the bulk of which would be wheat and rice.
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