Asked whether the Government would wait for the election process to be completed to take such a decision he said there is no necessity to wait until elections are held. These are important decisions and can be taken at any time, he said.

A total of 12 lakh tonnes of sugar had come into the country between Sepetember 1997 and January 1998. At least six lakh tonnes have been bought from Pakistan and most of the imports have been registered by traders in Amritsar. Despite a 5 per cent increase in the sugar during the budget there was a surge in imports of thecommodity from Thailand with at least 60,000 tonnes of sugar having been contracted from Thailand in the last one and half month.

He dismissed the reports of fall in wheat prices below the minimum support price (MSP) as `incorrect' and said procurement of wheat by FCI and other state government agencies were efficient and timely.

He said the Government would try to make maximum use of the bumper wheat crop in the domestic market and supply to overseas market if necessary.The minister said lack of competitive price in the international market was the main obstacle in India undertaking large scale exports of wheat. the Government has already allowed export of 25,000 tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh by private traders.