India’s wheat output is likely to fall three per cent to 106.41 million tonne this year compared to last year’s output of 109.59 million tonne, the agriculture ministry’s third advance estimates of food output, released on Thursday, showed.
A scorching summer in several wheat growing states cut yields by up to 20%, prompting the government to pare its estimates of the winter staple after five straight years of record harvest.
India on May 13 said it was suspending all overseas sale of the cereal, barring those approved by the government on the request of a foreign government to “meet their food security needs”.
The world was relying on India for shipments due to a shortage sparked by the Ukraine war. Russia and Ukraine account for almost a third of the world’s total wheat exports.
The government’s third of the four quarterly projections showed wheat output will be 1.41 million tonne more than a provisional estimate of 105 million tonne put out by the government earlier this month.
Production will still be lower by nearly 5% from the February estimate of 111.32 million tonnes, Thursday’s data showed.
{{/usCountry}}Production will still be lower by nearly 5% from the February estimate of 111.32 million tonnes, Thursday’s data showed.
{{/usCountry}}Rice output is estimated to increase 4.2% to 129.66 million tonnes in the 2021-22 crop year (June to July) against 124.37 million tonnes in the previous year.
Despite the decline in wheat output, the country’s total food-grains production is estimated to be 314.51 million tonnes in 2021-22 compared, a record high, against the 310.74 million tonnes harvested in the previous year.
Pulses, another key commodity, is projected to go up 8% to 27.75 million tonnes against an output of 25.46 million tonnes in the previous year. Coarse cereals however are expected to decline marginally to 50.70 million tonnes from 51.32 million tonnes in year-ago period.
The latest data showed that among non-food crops, cotton output is estimated to be 31.54 million bales (170 kg each), lower than last year’s with 35.24 million bales.