CHICAGO: US wheat exporters were unable to offer confirmation of a rumoured one-million-tonne purchase of Australian wheat by India. "I haven't heard that," said one US exporter. "There's been a lot of talk that India needs wheat, but India is vehemently denying it."On Thursday, an Indian government official said India will not import wheat "in the foreseeable future" because it has comfortable stocks on hand and it expects a decent 1998 crop. Rumours have persisted in US wheat markets that India was on the verge of buying 500,000 to one million tonnes of wheat.
But an attache report issued by the US embassy in New Delhi said adverse planting and growing conditions are likely to result in lower 1998 wheat production in India. To head off an expected wheat price rise, India had resumed open market sales of wheat and increased the monthly allocation of wheat available for release through the Public Distribution System, the report said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
