Wheat Import Racket.

[Guest guest]

I would like to draw special attention of one and all

that there is a big hoax in importing wheat at about

Rs. 14 per kilo from Cargil, Glencore and other

international players.

 

If you see news reports regularly, you will notice

that these very companies buy the wheat from the

farmers directly giving a few rupees, say a rupee or

two per kilo more than the government purchase price.

 

That creates artificial shortage of wheat in the

country during off season pushing up the market prices

of wheat and forcing the government to import. Then

the same foreign companies start selling wheat at

inflated prices. The common people of India have to

pay higher prices

 

I am watching this happen every year. As a result,

thousands of crores of rupees are being pocketed by

all middlemen including government agencies. The

importers make money. So too, the exporters,

transporters, warehousemen and every other person

except the Indian farmer and the Indian consumer.

 

THIS IS THE BIGGEST POSSIBLE RACKET GOING ON FOR YEARS

NOW. IT IS FOR UNION AGRI MINISTER SHARAD PAWAR AND

THE EXPERT ECONOMIST IN PM MANMOHAN SINGH WHO ARE

SUPPOSED TO KNOW MUCH MORE THAN ME, A POOR SENIOR

CITIZEN WHO IS WATCHING THIS BIG RACKET GOING ON FOR

YEARS ROBBING ENTIRE COUNTRY.

 

THIS NEEDS TO BE EXPOSED TO ALL MPs, MLAs,

JOURNALISTS, COLUMNISTS, THE FARMERS, THE CONSUMERS

AND EVERYONE UNDER THE SUN.

 

THESE ARE THE WAYS OF LOOTING INDIA BY BETTER-OFF

INDIANS, IN-POWER POLITICIANS AND TRADERS BOTH INDIANS

AND FOREIGNERS.

 

S. M. ACHARYA,

FOUNDER PRESIDENT, SAVE INDIA ASSOCIATION, PUNE, 155

St. Patrick's Town, Pune 411013, Tel: 020-26870204.

 

PS:

Please read the following report:

 

CONTROVERSIAL WHEAT IMPORT----

1.Wheat import likely to cost up to $370 a tonne

2. Opinion divided on need to import wheat at high

> prices

AGRI MARKET INTELLIGENCE & DATA-----

3. MCX to start on-line spot trading from Sept

4. Locusts not a likely threat - NCDEX monsoon

matrix says good rains in June but expresses

apprehenshions for some crops

5. States asked to ensure accuracy of agri data

6. PM warns of severe water shortage in few

decades. Wheat import likely to cost up to $370 a

tonne

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=169172

NEW DELHI, JUL 4: India’s attempt to import 1

million tonne of wheat may face further problems as

the prices quoted by bidders in response to the

recent tender are in the range of $318-370 a tonne,

up to 40% higher than the price quoted in bids

received earlier.

State Trading Corporation of India (STC), the

government agency that floated a global tender

earlier this year for the import of 1 million tonne,

had cancelled the order since the prices quoted then

too were high. Those prices were $267-302 a tonne.

Some bidders even offered to reduce the price to

$263 a tonne, which was also rejected by the

government.

Seven bidders are currently in the fray: Cargill,

Glencore International AG, Alfred E Toepfer

International, Riaz Trading, Concordia, Louis

Dreyfus and Agrilink Asia-Pacific (a Singapore-based

arm of Concordia). While the government expected

prices to soften in June, the ban on wheat exports

by the Ukraine, and lower production in the US,

Australia and the Black Sea region have ensured a

tight supply scenario, pushing up prices. Globally,

prices have jumped 20% in the past one month.

The offer to supply 70,000 tonne of wheat by

Louis Dreyfus is yet to be accepted as the firm has

not supplied the wheat bond as required by the

tender,” said an STC official.

All seven bidders offered to supply 9.2 lakh tonne

(920,000 tonne) in all against the order for one

million tonne. Alfred E Toepfer quoted the lowest

price at $318 a tonne on C & F basis. It has agreed to

supply only 2.5 lakh tonne (250,000 tonne), of which

1.28 lakh (128,000 tonne) would be delivered at

Mundra Port in Gujarat and the remaining at other

ports. Agrilink Asia-Pacific quoted Rs 12,000 a

tonne on ex-godown basis for 10,000 tonne.

Cargill bid $224 a tonne on C & F basis for 1.75

lakh tonne (i75,000 tonne) at Mundra port in

September-October. Glencore quoted a price range of

$ 343-360 a tonne for 2 lakh tonne (200,000 tonne).

Concordia bid $333 a tonne for 90,000 tonne at

Mundra port and Riaz quoted $329-337.50 a tonne for

1.25 lakh tonne (125,000 tonne).

The STC official said global bidders quoted

$317.95-$328.95 a tonne for delivery at Mundra port,

$328.95-348 a tonne for delivery at Kandla port,

$327.95-370 a tonne for delivery at Chennai port,

$322.95-358 a tonne for delivery at Kakinada port

and $360-$370 a tonne at Tuticorin port.

Opinion divided on need to import wheat at high

Economists and farmers differ on

the issue of import of wheat for building up of

buffer stock in the country.

According to some economists, wheat imports at $

318 to $ 370 a tonne as quoted by bidders in

response to the recent tender floated by the State

Trading Corporation of India (STC) would not be much

costlier than the price the government is paying for

purchasing wheat from farmers in north India and for

stocking and transporting it to remote corners of

south India.

 

If we factor in the economic costs including the

purchase of wheat at Rs 8500 a tonne and payment of

local taxes and transportation to remote corners of

non-wheat growing areas of the country, the price we

would be paying for imported wheat would not be much

costlier,” said PK Joshi, director of National

Centre Agricultural Economics and Policy Research

(NCAP). NCAP is one of the affiliated institutions of

the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

 

Joshi further said , “We need to build up our

buffer stock of wheat and therefore need to buy

wheat from anywhere.”(Why didn't you buy during the

season from the farmers?)

 

According to the official estimate, wheat

production in the current season is about 74 million

tonne against a consumption demand of 60 million

tonne. Since the beginning of the harvest season in

April, this year, the government through its

designated agencies could procure only 11.1 million

tonne. The buffer norm for wheat for July 1 is 17.1

million tonne.

Even taking into consideration the depreciation

of dollar against rupee the import price of $ 370 a

tonne would be about Rs 14,800 a tonne,” said the

executive chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj, Krishan

Bir Chaudhary.

He also said that the government was paying

farmers only Rs 8,500 for one tonne of wheat and

that the handling, storage and transportation cost

of imported wheat would be much higher than that

wheat procured from farmers.

 

Government should purchase wheat from farmers by

raising the purchase price by at least Rs 2,000 a

tonne.

 

 

 

 

 

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