New Delhi, Oct 3 - India has bought 700,000 tonnes of the new season rice from farmers in recent days, signalling another bumper harvest after buying a record 28.4 million tonnes last crop year, a government official and analysts said.
Bulging stocks at state warehouses could mean an early resumption of non-basmati rice exports, halted in early April to shore up domestic supplies when rice stocks in many countries had fallen and benchmark prices in Thailand had soared.
The government usually begins buying rice from October but started procuring ahead of schedule as some early sown varieties reached wholesale markets last month, Alok Sinha, managing director of the Food Corp of India, told Reuters.
"In 2007/08, we procured 28.4 million tonnes rice against a target of 27.6 million tonnes and in 2008/09 we have already got more than 700,000 tonnes. We began buying early on the request of leading rice producing states in the north," he said.
The Food Corp of India, the custodian of the country's grains, buys rice and wheat at government-fixed prices to supply to the poor at subsidised rates. Higher stocks with the Food Corp also help the government keep a check on domestic prices.
Analysts say early procurement is the first tangible sign of a good crop size and could encourage the government to loosen trade curbs.
India recently allowed exports of Pusa-1121, a premium non-basmati variety.
The government should now allow shipments of at least limited quantities of other non-basmati varieties as lower prices have spurred demand from the Philippines, Africa and Cuba, said Vijay Setia, president of the All India Rice Exporters Association.
Benchmark prices in Thailand on Wednesday fell 1.4 percent to $710 per tonne from $720 last week as demand waned, traders in Bangkok said, well below the record of $1,080 per tonne marked in April.
Setia said the government should end the export ban as expected high local output would further lower global prices. India, the world's second-biggest grower of the staple, last month forecast summer-sown rice output would touch a record 83.25 million tonnes against 82.81 million tonnes a year earlier.
The summer-sown crop makes up the bulk of India's total rice output of more than 95 million tonnes.