India grain stockpiles soaring

After imposing an export ban on rice and wheat for several years, India is now reporting huge stockpiles of the two food grains, Reuters reported, citing official government data.

India’s rice stocks in government warehouses rose 18% from a year ago to a record high for the start of June, while wheat stocks have hit their highest level in four years on increased production from farmers, the report said.

India, which imposed export curbs on rice in 2022, removed all restrictions earlier this year. It now has 59.5 million tonnes of rice in storage, well above its July 1 goal of 13.5 million tonnes, Reuters reported. India, world’s largest exporter and second largest producer of rice, accounts for roughly 40% of global rice exports.

The government also reported having nearly 37 million tonnes of wheat in storage, nearly 10 million tonnes over its stockpile goal for July 1, according to Reuters.

Several disappointing harvests and reduced purchases by the Indian government led to a wheat export ban that began in 2022 and lasted several years. The export bans were imposed to address skyrocketing food prices by ensuring that the country’s supply goals for rice and wheat were met.

Record wheat and rice crops are anticipated in the 2025-26 marketing year, with the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture forecasting wheat output at 117 million tonnes and rice production at 147 million tonnes.

The report of the mounting rice and wheat stockpiles comes as Indian government plans a $15 billion investment to create an additional 70 million tonnes of grain storage capacity over the next five years by constructing thousands of warehouses and bins throughout India. The stated goal is to construct enough grain storage capacity to store 100% of India’s grain production.

The government said it intends to triple its wheat storage capacity over the next three years to 9 million tonnes, up from the current 2.8 million tonnes.

Tags: grain, rice, wheat, India, stocks