RPT-Indian govt rice purchases up, signal stock surplus

(Repeats story from Wednesday)

NEW DELHI, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Rice purchases by India's state-run grain procurement agencies have got off to a strong start since the beginning of the marketing year last month, a government statement said on Wednesday, signalling surplus stocks for now.

State firms bought 11.2 million tonnes of rice since Oct. 1, up by 9.8 percent from 10.2 million tonnes procured a year ago, the statement said.

The government buys grains at a fixed price to build stocks for its various welfare programmes, meet any emergency and to protect farmers from distress sale.

Hit by the worst monsoon in 37 years, the government on Nov. 3 said summer-planted rice output could record a bigger-than-expected fall of 18 percent to 69.45 million tonnes compared with the previous year.

Harvest of summer-sown rice begins from October.

The country last month floated tenders to buy 30,000 tonnes of rice. Trade Minister Anand Sharma on Tuesday said a panel of ministers would meet on Nov 20 to decide on the bids received by three state-run firms. See [ID:nBOM420891]

(Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Malini Menon) (Additional reporting by Surinder Pal and Vikas Vasudeva in CHANDIGARH)