Farm ministry sees record 2010 wheat output

India expects a record wheat harvest of 82 million tonnes, helped by favourable weather in its main producing region, S Nagarajan, a senior scientist at the farm ministry told a conference on Friday.     

A strong harvest, on top of last year's record 80.7 million tonnes will put pressure on India to ease the ban of exports to make space for the new crop.                                          

"A good chill in January and mid-February is good for wheat. Punjab and Haryana look quite robust," he said. Punjab and Haryana are India''s leading wheat producing states, which contribute heavily to government stocks.                                           

"We are heading for a record harvest of 82 million tonnes and if God blesses us, it can be even more," he said. India's wheat stocks would rise to 40 million tonnes by June, he added.

On June 1, 2009, India's wheat stocks were up 37 percent from a year ago at 33.1 million tonnes. The government has a target of 4 million tonnes of wheat stocks on April 1.