Private traders may get approval to export wheat after May 16

NEW DELHI: The notification allowing private traders to export up to 20 lakh tonnes of wheat will be issued after the Lok Sabha election results are out, a top government official said on Thursday. ���The notification will be issued after counting,��� commerce secretary GK Pillai said here, on the sidelines of a Ficci-organised meeting. The results will come out on May 16.

The committee of secretaries on May 4 had decided to open up wheat export to private traders and not restrict it to public sector trading firms ��� MMTC, STC and PEC. Apart from wheat, the export of wheat products like sooji, maida and atta will also be allowed.

However, the government has decided not to export grain out of its reserve and the private sector has to buy wheat from the market. The commerce ministry had proposed that only the PSUs be allowed to export the 20 lakh tonnes of wheat.

The empowered group of ministers (eGoM) in March took an in-principle decision to lift the two-year ban on wheat export and had directed the CoS to fix the modalities of shipment. Wheat export was banned in February 2007 as the country faced shortages in 2006 and 2007 and the government imported 73 lakh tonnes to meet the requirement of the public distribution system.