With the sky rocketing prices of wheat, the flour industry in India is in panic mode and will be meeting the food secretary this week. If the government doesn’t intervene regarding the fast pace of exports, they say, flour prices will increase further by 10% in the next 2-3 months.
Heavy buying by private traders, rapid exports and storage by farmers has made wheat availability scarce. Millers are not able to decide whether to stock more to hedge against future price rises because the government can impose stock limits in the future to control prices, as it did for cooking oils and pulses.
The four milling industries are currently in a panic. We haven’t seen a situation like this ever before. At the peak of the harvest season, we are finding it tough to buy wheat at the optimum price, “said Navneet Chitlangia, vice president, All India Roller Flour Mills Association.
Traders said the entire milling industry is dependent on wheat from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar as wheat is not available in Punjab and Haryana.