Government clears import of maize to cut pressure

PUNE: State-run PEC has floated a tender to import 50,000 tonnes of non-genetically modified maize under advance licence for the domestic starch industry. After India’s retail inflation increased to 5.76% in May from 5.47% in the previous month, mainly on account of costly food items, the central government cleared the import of pulses on Wednesday. This was followed by the decision to import maize, which is also an important feed ingredient, especially in poultry, where prices have remained firm since January.

Traders said imported maize may not help reduce the demand and supply gap in the domestic market, but it will reduce some pressure on supplies since prices have gone up 15-20% in the past three months. “The price of maize has increased from Rs 14.50 per kg in April to about Rs 17 per kg now while starch prices have remained stable as there is recession in the industries that use starch,” said an official of a listed starch company, requesting not to be identified.

As per the third advance estimate of the government, India is expected to have produced 21.02 million tonnes of maize in 2015-16, 7.5% less than the third advance estimate for the previous fiscal. The final maize production in 2014-15 was 23.67 million tonnes.

Some traders said that they expected the government to allow total import of 1 lakh tonnes of maize under advance licence.