NEW DELHI (Commodity Online): India, the second largest wheat producer in the world, is expected produce wheat more than previous year’s record level in this season with high winter sown acreage.

The acreage under wheat production has been risen by 5% to 5.67 million hectare up to November 12, said a government data. The country had produced 80.58 million tons wheat in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009.

According to experts, the increased acreage in the winter season would help to offset the shortfall in the summer sown food grain production. Normally, winter sowing starts on November 1 and is harvested from March-April onwards.

Early this month, the Central government raised the MSP for the fiscal year starting April 2010 by Rs 200 per ton to Rs 1,100 per ton to encourage more sowing.

The winter rice area jumped to 58,000 hectares to November 12, up from 13,000 hectares during the same period last year. Summer-sown rice production is estimated to have fallen by about 16 million tons to 69.45 million tons.

Three Indian state agencies have recently issued import tenders for 30,000 tons rice imports to meet any possible shortfall. The government is considering imports of up to 2 million tons rice over the next 12 months.

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