US slams India for tough wheat import standards

New Delhi, July 11 (UNI) The United States has slammed India for 'unrealistic' import regulations of wheat on weed presence, fumigation and inspection, which barred purchases of US grain in a recent tender.

''We are very disappointed that the Indian government's Committee of Secretaries and Ministry of Agriculture officials have decided against bringing India's unrealistic wheat import phytosanitary requirements in line with international standards,'' the US Embassy said in a statement here.

India's very low weed seed standard is nearly impossible for any global exporter to meet, raising questions about the reliability of India's import inspection process, the statement added.

India needs to lower level of weed seeds in grain than typically requested in international tenders, the statement argued.

Earlier, Indian Food Ministry officials visited the US in May and met their counterparts in that country for thrashing out the latter's objection on 'tough' import standards, which had rendered American grains unfit for import in India. But the two countries are still away from any meeting point on wheat import standards as India appears to be not agreeing to lower its parameters.

Last year, the US could not participate in tenders floated by India to import 5.5 million tonnes of wheat.

Last week India decided to import 1.5 lakh tonnes a week.

Earlier, tenders were floated for importing three million tonnes of wheat but were cancelled after the prices quoted by the participants were found to be too high.

The US reaction on the Indian standards is seen as a reaction emerging from the Amercian discomfort over the fact that Americans are not still in a position to participate in the tenders this year too.

However, the US is impressing upon India to conduct independent tests of imported wheat arriving at the ports to verify that these standards are truly being met, the statement added.

Some pro-American lobbyists in India are insisting that the country will be paying a price for not allowing US wheat.

The US statement said that India had paid 10 to 20 per cent more for wheat purchases made last year than Egypt.

They contended that India could have saved 65 to 85 million dollars in wheat imports last year by relaxing the norms.

But several Indian agriculture experts have been arguing that many exotic weeds had already entered the country when India was a consistent importer of wheat under PL 480 during the 1960s.

UNI