After wheat and pulses, the government plans to import sugar at concessional import duty to immediately cool domestic prices. It is also working on a long-term foodgrain policy that would spell out norms for market operations in times of price spikes.A status paper for the Cabinet Committee on Prices says that the Department of Economic Affairs has proposed ‘‘a tariff rate quota for import of 10 lakh tonnes of sugar at concessional import duty of 20 percent’’. This would bring down the import duty from current 60 per cent but retain the countervailing duty of Rs 850 a tonne, it said.Cheaper imports would be in line with last month’s approvals by the CCP to bring down prices of wheat, pulses and sugar that have skyrocketed in the last couple of months, said sources. At that meeting, the CCP had approved keeping pulse prices under check through duty-free imports. Import duty on pulses was scrapped from 10 per cent on June 8, resulting in initial decline in futures prices.Also on the anvil is a strategy paper on Foodgrains Availability and Related Food Security that would identify the authority and outline measures for its sourcing of scarce commodities through market mechanism or intervention in commodity futures exchanges. At present, such approvals have to be routed through the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.For pulses, an expert group would be set up to ‘‘examine the factors inhibiting growth in production and productivity and make suitable recommendations,’’ said the status paper.Wheat imports, orders for which have already been placed, would be kept under vigil to ensure that the recent gains of a decline in futures prices for June-December is not lost. ‘‘Any disruption would be viewed negatively,’’ warns the paper. Price trends have shown that futures prices are moving downwards though still above minimum support price and bonus—a reflection of arrival of imported wheat beginning mid-July.Yesterday, the CCEA approved a relaxed quarantine and quality norms for wheat to facilitate import of an additional 22 lakh tonnes of wheat. India requires to import 30 lakh tonnes of wheat but contracts for only 8 lakh tonnes could be finalised in the tender floated on May 8.The CCP has also recommended that methods for forecasting and estimating agricultural output be updated.
