India’s government-owned wheat stockpile was forecast to fall to its lowest level in 15 years as the result of the effort to squelch food inflation, said USDA analysts. Harvest of the new crop in March and April “will alleviate some of the current tightness in supplies,” said the USDA’s monthly Grain: World Markets and Trade circular.
“The government maintains domestic support programs for producers and subsidies for the vast majority of consumers,” said the circular. “Notably, government-held stocks this January plummeted to the lowest level since 2017. In addition to the higher off-take for food security programs, the government has been rapidly auctioning stocks to the open market in an effort to quell high cereal price inflation.”
After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and disrupted global grain supplies, India helped fill the gap and briefly became the world’s seventh-largest wheat exporter. A year later it banned exports because of a smaller-than-expected harvest. India is the third-largest wheat grower and consumer in the world. The USDA forecasts season-ending wheat stocks of 9 million metric tons on April 1 from a crop of 110.6 million tons.