Harvest of mistakes

The government's plan to export five million tonnes of wheat from its reserves through private traders to clear warehousing space ahead of the new wheat procurement season, which begins on April 1, seems unlikely to succeed. Formidable constraints of time and logistics are involved in exporting massive quantities in the next few weeks. In any case, the stocks on offer are two years old and are, therefore, difficult to sell without discounts in the international market. Further, these have to be sourced by exporters from godowns in Punjab, which means additional freight costs for carrying these stocks to ports.

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