1.   

Food Ministry for cut in wheat export floor price to $260/tonne

The Food Ministry has moved a Cabinet note proposing a reduction in the floor price of wheat by USD 40 at USD 260 a tonne to make exports viable and clear surplus stocks. The revision in reserve price has been proposed as global buyers quoted USD 260-267 a tonne for recent bids, as against the benchmark price of USD 300 a tonne set for export of two million tonnes of the grain from the state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI).

2.   

Ansari launches Indian Chamber of Commerce in Peru

As the governments of India and Peru gear up to start negotiations on a free-trade agreement, Vice-President Hamid Ansari on Monday launched INCHAM, the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Peru. The chamber will help Indian businesses that want to engage in trade and industry with Peru and neighbouring Latin American countries. Although an FTA is still in the conceptual stage, the development is seen as a sign of India’s widening economic engagement with Latin American countries. Efforts are already on to finalise a Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.

3.   

BRICS agriculture ministers address food security

Agriculture ministers of the BRICS countries met here Tuesday to address the negative effects of climate change on world food security. The gathering, the third of its kind, will culminate in the signing of a joint declaration which will demonstrate BRICS' determination to meet the challenges confronting food security, Xinhua reported. BRICS is an acronym for world's major emerging markets, namely, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

4.   

'Centre to relax norms for paddy procurement'

With farmers in Punjab facing problems in procurement by government agencies of their paddy, the central government has indicated that specifications for procurement would be relaxed soon, a state minister said Tuesday. Food and Civil Supplies Minister Adaish Partap Singh Kairon, who met union Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Minister K.V. Thomas in New Delhi Tuesday, said the ministry would announce relaxation in prescribed parameters of paddy procurement within the next two days, an official release said in Chandigarh.