• 

India's domestic rice buys since Oct up 2.2 pct y/y

NEW DELHI, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Rice purchases by the Indian government since Oct. 1 dipped for the second straight week, but were 2.2 percent more than the same period last year, as higher prices offered by official agencies reduced private purchases. Government sources said on Monday that official agencies had purchased 14.2 million tonnes of rice in the new season, up from 13.9 million tonnes a year ago. Year-on-year growth in purchases since the season began on Oct. 1 was 4 percent on Dec. 7 and 3 percent on Dec. 14, reflecting the impact of the worst June-September monsoon in 37 years.The sources said rice purchases in the northern Punjab state, a top producer, rose to 9.3 million tonnes against 8.1 million tonnes. Northern state of Haryana bought 1.8 million tonnes of the grain, down from 1.4 million tonnes.Rice stocks at government warehouses at the beginning of the year on Oct. 1 were at 15.3 million tonnes, they added.Rice purchases from farmers had surged when the season began on Oct. 1 as higher prices offered by government agencies encouraged farmers to quickly sell their produce, but purchases fell in the last week because of a lower output.On Dec. 14, official sources said government agencies had bought 13.4 million tonnes, up from 13.0 million tonnes in the same period a year ago. [ID:nDEL002433]India' summer-sown rice output was expected to fall 15.3 percent to 71.65 million tonnes this year because of poor monsoon rains. See [ID:nSGE5BF0DH] (Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Malini Menon) © Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved Dubai Debt Crisis

 

< Prev		Next >