Indian wheat stocks at 16-year low after record state sale

Wheat stocks in India’s government warehouses on May 1 were down 10.3% year on year to their lowest since 2008 after two years of low crops prompted the sale of record volumes to boost domestic supplies and lower local prices. At the start of the month wheat reserves in state stores totalled 26 million metric tons, down from 29 million metric tons in May 2023, according to the state-run Food Corporation of India. May wheat inventories are higher than April stocks of 7.5 million metric tons after new season purchases by the Food Corporation of India bumped up reserves. Higher temperatures clipped output in 2022 and 2023. Despite the tight supply, New Delhi has resisted calls to encourage imports by cutting or removing the current 40% tax on imports or by buying directly from leading suppliers such as Russia. Instead, it has dipped into state reserves to sell to bulk consumers, such as flour millers and biscuit makers, to try to curb domestic prices that have been above the ...