India wheat, rice production to rise to record high, government says
India, the world's biggest wheat producer after China, produced 113.3 million tons of wheat in 2024, the farm ministry said in a statement issued late on Wednesday.
However, a leading industry body said the crop was nearly 6.25% lower than the government's estimate.
The country's rice production in 2025 is also set to climb to a record high, with the ministry estimating it at 149 million metric tons, up from last year's 137.8 million tons.
Record production of wheat and rice will lift the country's total food grains production to 354 million tons from last year's 332.3 million tons.
A strong wheat harvest in India is rapidly replenishing stocks, meaning the country will be able to meet domestic demand without imports this year, contrary to market talk that it would need overseas supplies, and a potential drag on global prices.
India is the world's biggest exporter of rice and higher production will help New Delhi to increase shipments.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
12 minutes ago
- The Independent
Asian shares mostly slip as focus shifts to US talks with China
Asian shares mostly declined Tuesday as some of the euphoria fizzled out over a tariff deal with Japan as proposed by President Donald Trump, which was followed by a similar deal with the European Union. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped nearly 0.7% to 40,725.23. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.3% to 8,670.50. South Korea's Kospi was little changed after reversing earlier losses, edging less than 0.1% higher to 3,212.59. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.1% to 25,276.36, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.3% to 3,586.93. Analysts said markets were watching for the latest from Trump, which are now focused on the talks with China. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng were meeting in Sweden. Bessent has said the negotiations will likely lead to an extension of current tariff levels. There was no significant new information after the first day of talks. 'Aside from addressing economic imbalances, tariffs are also now well entrenched in the geo-political arena,' Tan Boon Heng of the Asia & Oceania Treasury Department at Mizuho Bank said in a commentary. Last week, Trump announced a trade framework, placing a 15% tax on goods imported from Japan, a level far lower than the earlier 25% rate that the president had indicated. Trump also said Japan would invest $550 billion into the U.S. and open up to U.S. autos and rice. Details are still unclear, but the accord set off some momentary relief. U.S. stock indexes drifted through a quiet Monday after the United States agreed to tax cars and other products coming from the European Union at a 15% rate, lower than Trump had threatened. Many details of the trade deal are still to be worked out, and Wall Street is heading into a week full of potential flashpoints that could shake markets, including an interest rate decision Wednesday by the Federal Reserve. The widespread expectation on Wall Street is that Fed officials will wait until September to resume cutting interest rates, though a couple of Trump's appointees could dissent in the vote. The Fed has been on hold with interest rates this year since cutting them several times at the end of 2024. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 was nearly flat, edging up by less than 0.1% to 6,389.77 and setting an all-time high for a sixth straight day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1% to 44,837.56, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.3% to its own record, closing at 21,178.58. Tesla rose 3% after its CEO, Elon Musk, said it had signed a deal with Samsung Electronics that could be worth more than $16.5 billion to provide computer chips for the electric-vehicle company. Samsung's stock in South Korea jumped 6.8%. Other companies in the chip and artificial-intelligence industries were strong, continuing their run from last week after Alphabet said it was increasing its spending on AI chips and other investments to $85 billion this year. Chip company Advanced Micro Devices rose 4.3%, and server-maker Super Micro Computer climbed 10.2%. But an 8.3% drop for Revvity helped to keep the market in check. The company in the life sciences and diagnostics businesses reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than Wall Street expected, but its forecast for full year profit disappointed analysts. Companies are broadly under pressure to deliver solid growth in profits following big jumps in their stock prices the last few months. Much of the gain was due to hopes that Trump would walk back some of his stiff proposed tariffs, and critics say the U.S. stock market looks expensive unless companies will produce bigger profits. Hundreds of U.S. companies are lined up to report how much profit they made during the spring, with nearly a third of the businesses in the S&P 500 index scheduled to deliver updates. In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude inched up 1 cent to $66.72 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 6 cents to $70.10 a barrel. In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 148.56 Japanse yen from 148.54 yen. The euro cost $1.1600, up from $1.1593. ___
Reuters
12 minutes ago
- Reuters
Asia shares slip as investors remember the drag of tariffs
SYDNEY, July 29 (Reuters) - Asia shares eased on Tuesday while the euro nursed its losses as investors pondered the downside of the U.S.-EU trade deal and the reality that punishing tariffs were here to stay, with unwelcome implications for growth and inflation. The initial relief over Europe's 15% levy quickly soured when set against the 1% to 2% that stood before President Donald Trump took office. Leaders in France and Germany lamented the outcome as a drag on growth, pulling down stocks and bond yields across the continent while slugging the single currency. Trump also flagged a "world tariff" rate of 15% to 20% on all trading partners that were not negotiating a deal, among the highest rates since the Great Depression of the 1930s. "While the worst case scenario was averted, the implied EU tariff increase from 1% in January is a significant tax increase on EU exports," wrote economists from JPMorgan in a note. "This is a very big shock that unwinds a century of U.S. leadership in global free trade," they warned. "While we no longer see a U.S. recession as our baseline from this shock, the risk is still elevated at 40%." A further risk to world growth came from a sudden spike in oil prices after Trump threatened a new deadline of 10 or 12 days for Russia to make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine or face tougher sanctions on oil exports. Brent edged up 0.1% to $70.10 a barrel, having climbed 2.3% on Monday, while U.S. crude held at $66.73. The air of caution saw MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS), opens new tab slip 0.7%. Japan's Nikkei eased 0.8% (.N225), opens new tab, while Chinese blue chips (.CSI300), opens new tab fell 0.1%. European shares steadied after Monday's sell-off. EUROSTOXX 50 futures edged up 0.2%, while FTSE futures and DAX futures both added 0.1%. The euro was flat at $1.1592 , after falling 1.3% overnight in the largest drop since mid-May. It now has chart support at $1.1556. The dollar index was up at 98.674 , after the rush out of short dollar positions lifted it 1% overnight, while it touched a one-week high on the yen at 148.63 . Wall Street held firm on hopes for upbeat results from mega caps this week that include Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab, Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab and Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab. S&P 500 futures nudged up 0.1%, while Nasdaq futures added 0.2%. Yields on 10-year Treasuries held at 4.408% having crept higher on Monday as markets braced for another steady decision on interest rates from the Federal Reserve. Futures imply a 97% chance the Fed will keep rates at 4.25%-4.5% at its meeting on Wednesday and reiterate concerns that tariffs will push inflation higher in the short term. Analysts also assume one, or maybe two, Fed officials will dissent in favour of a cut and supporting wagers for a move in September. The odds could change depending on a slew of U.S. data this week including gross domestic product for the second quarter where growth is seen rebounding to an annualised 2.4%, after a 0.5% contraction in the first quarter. Figures on job openings are due later on Tuesday that will help refine forecasts for the crucial payrolls report on Friday. Canada's central bank also meets on Wednesday and again is widely expected to hold rates at 2.75% as it waits to see how trade talks with the U.S. wash out. In commodity markets, prices for copper and iron ore were under pressure while gold idled at $3,316 an ounce .
Reuters
12 minutes ago
- Reuters
Indian equity benchmarks set for muted open; trade deal, earnings in focus
July 29 (Reuters) - India's equity benchmarks were set for a muted open on Tuesday amid caution over a delay in interim trade deal with the United States, sustained foreign outflows and weak earnings. The Gift Nifty futures were trading at 24,665 points as of 7:49 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 (.NSEI), opens new tab will open near Monday's close of 24,680.9, the lowest closing level since June 4. The benchmark Nifty and Sensex (.BSESN), opens new tab have both fallen in the last three sessions, losing over 2% each during the period. Foreign portfolio investors sold Indian shares worth 60.81 billion rupees ($700.92 million) on Monday, as per provisional data, marking their biggest selling in India since May 30. Investors are worried about the repercussions of a delay in the trade deal with the U.S. ahead of President Donald Trump's August 1 deadline. Negotiations between India and the United States remained deadlocked over tariff cuts on agriculture and dairy products, Reuters reported last week citing two Indian government sources. Trump said on Monday most trading partners that do not negotiate separate deals would soon face tariffs of 15% to 20% on their exports to the U.S., well above the broad 10% tariff he imposed in April. Meanwhile, domestic earnings season has been mixed, with lenders Kotak Mahindra Bank ( opens new tab and Axis Bank ( opens new tab, and top information technology companies posting weaker-than-expected numbers. ** IndusInd Bank ( opens new tab swings back to profit in the first quarter after its biggest-ever loss in the previous three months, but its asset quality worsened ** JK Paper ( opens new tab reports eighth straight quarter of a decline in profit and says it will acquire a 72% stake in private peer Borkar Packaging for 2.35 billion rupee ** Renewable energy power generator NTPC Green Energy ( opens new tab and Solar module maker Waaree Energies ( opens new tab both posted higher quarterly revenue and profits ($1 = 86.7570 Indian rupees)
