New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS) As India plans to import 5.5 million tonne wheat this year after a gap of seven years, the food ministry maintains it is a "temporary setback" and not an indication of the country becoming import-dependent.

"The need to import wheat is a temporary setback. The imbalance in wheat procurement by the government does not mean that India will become a net importer of foodgrains," L. Mansingh, secretary, consumer affairs, in the food ministry told media here Friday.

Briefing on the government decision to import wheat and pulses and allow private sector to do so at concessional customs duty to check spiralling domestic prices, the official said that while on the one hand India is importing wheat, on the other hand there has been 4.5 million tonnes of non-basmati rice exports so far this year.

The export figure is much higher than in the past: India normally exports around 0.5-1.0 million tonnes of basmati rice but this is the first time that there has been such good overseas demand for Indian non-basmati or non-parboiled rice.

India has downscaled the 2005-06 wheat production estimates from 74 million tonnes to 69 million tonnes while in the case of rice the last agriculture year saw a bumper harvest of 92 million tonnes.

Contrary to indications, India's wheat production is sufficient for domestic consumption, said S. Kaul, joint secretary of policy and Food Corporation of India (FCI), the government-nominated foodgrain handling agency.

The government has estimated that the domestic requirement of wheat is currently 70 million tonnes.

Commenting on the shortage, the food ministry officials said as per their estimate, beside the big industries like ITC, Cargil Foods, Reliance and Adani Exports it is the farmers themselves who are holding on to stocks of wheat on behalf of traders for a better price realisation during the lean period ahead of the next harvest in April.

Apart from the 5.5 million tonnes of wheat being imported by the government, which will be opening the last tender for 1.67 million tonnes of wheat on Sep 5, it is estimated that the private companies will be importing a total of 500,000 tonnes of wheat.

So far the private companies have already imported 120,000 tonnes of wheat, according to the government estimate.

The food ministry is ensuring that the buffer stocks before the next harvest would comply with the buffer stock norms of four million tonnes double of what FCI had on April 1 this year.

"We have decided to stick to the buffer stock norms of four million tonnes as we realise it is a norm that should not be breached if we are to have some control over market prices," said Kaul.

For the next year, the government is mulling how best to ensure that private companies do not step in to buy stocks from farmers before FCI has ensured enough buffer stocks.

Besides market intervention in times of emergency, around 3 million tonnes are required annually for government-subsidised schemes including the sale through public distribution system (PDS).