India to harvest record wheat, rapeseed crop in 2023

A combine deposits harvested wheat in a tractor trolley at a field on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, March 16, 2022. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File photo

MUMBAI  -India’s 2023 wheat production is likely to rise 4.1 percent to a record 112.2 million tons, the government said on Tuesday, as higher prices prompted farmers to expand crop-growing areas with high-yielding varieties and the weather remained favorable.

Higher wheat output could help the world’s second-biggest producer of the grain in replenishing depleted inventories and bringing down prices from record levels.

India, also the world’s second-biggest consumer of wheat, banned exports in May 2022 after a sharp, sudden rise in temperatures clipped output, even as exports picked up to meet the global shortfall triggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

India’s wheat output fell to 107.74 million tonnes in 2022 from 109.59 million tonnes a year earlier, data released by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare showed.

The country grows only one wheat crop in a year, with planting in October and November, and harvesting from March.

Despite the expected rise in output, India is considering extending a ban on wheat exports as it seeks to replenish state reserves and bring down domestic prices, government sources said last week.

India’s rapeseed production in 2023 could jump 7.1 percent from a year earlier to a record 12.8 million tons, the government said.

A rise in rapeseed output could help the world’s biggest edible oil importer reduce overseas purchases of palm oil, soyoil and sunflower oil.

The country’s rice production from winter-sown crop could rise to 22.76 million tons from 18.47 million tons a year earlier, according to the government.

India is the world’s biggest exporter of rice.