New Delhi: The government is weighing the option of allowing export of wheat and rice but will study threadbare the demand and supply situation before arriving at a final decision, commerce ministry sources said. Export of wheat and wheat products was banned in 2007 to conserve domestic supplies and check rising prices. Last year, the government banned export of non-basmati rice on the same grounds. Record procurement of foodgrain and high farm output, however, have given rise to a feeling that there will be surplus and hence exports should be allowed. The government has procured a record 24.4 million tonnes of wheat in the current season so far. At the start of this month, the government had 33 million tonnes of wheat in the Central pool, almost double the annual requirement for government’s various welfare schemes. The high stocks are leading to storage problems as Central silos are overflowing and grain is having to be stored in the open. The sources said the export sector may still remain under cloud as it is heavily dependent on overseas demand. “No matter what you do, unless demand picks up exporters will remain in a tight position. Our job is to make them more competitive globally. The government is planning to do everything it could to help the sector,’’ one official said. The proposals will require legislative intervention but are expected to show results by September. *
Duty cut on coal mining tool import likely **Sanjay Dutta | TNN * The government could reduce nearly by half import duty levied on heavy and light equipment used for mining coal in line with the renewed focus on raising output of the fuel which accounts for nearly 60% of domestic energy supplies. Sources said the issue dominated coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal’s budget discussions with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday. Another being disinvestment of 5-10% government equity in state-owned monopoly Coal India. At present, earth-moving equipment attract 10% import levy and small mining items like shovels etc 7.5%. The proposal is to bring them down to 3%. After his meeting with Mukherjee, Jaiswal restricted himself to commenting only on the disinvestment proposal. “We are working on a proposal to disinvest 5-10% stake in Coal India. I have informed the finance minister about it but we have not given it in writing,’’ he said. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""GLOBAL SPECULATORS"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalspeculators?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
