India All Set To Import Rice

India's Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has confirmed media reports that the country was seeking to import rice from Vietnam and Thailand to offset an expected production shortfall following drought and floods.

Though the Minister said India has adequate buffer stock as well as strategic reserve of food, the Ministry of Agriculture had forecast that country's rice output could fall by up to 17 million MT in the crop year from October 2009 to September 2010 after previous two years of bumper harvests.

India still has comfortable buffer stocks of 14.5 million MT, far above its buffer target of 5.2 million MT.