Wheat stocks down 4.7 pct m/m, still above target

NEW DELHI: Wheat stocks at government warehouses as on Aug 1 fell 4.7 percent from July to 40.4 million tonnes, government data showed on Wednesday, reflecting still overflowing grain silos.

India, the world's second biggest grower of wheat and rice, needs to maintain wheat stocks of 17.1 million tonnes for the first quarter of the new crop year from July 1 to run welfare programmes to provide cheap grains to the poor.

India's monthly rice stocks on Aug 1 also fell 7.3 percent to 29.2 million tonnes, but the stocks were still nearly three times higher than the minimum target of 9.8 million tonnes.

The Indian government is hoping to get backing soon from parliament for its $22 billion welfare scheme to give cheap food to millions of people, a centrepiece of the ruling Congress party's plan to win a third term in polls due by May 2014.

India grows only one wheat crop a year and harvests that arrive from March bump up stocks. The new season rice harvest begins in October, which is then drawn on for distribution in government welfare schemes.