In order to curb imports and protect the domestic industry, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has hiked the customs duty on wheat to 40% from 30% earlier. The government wants to restrict overseas purchase so that domestic prices of wheat do not come under pressure as the country's wheat output is expected to scale a record high this year. In May last year, the government had hiked BCD on wheat to 30% from 20%.
The government has fixed wheat's minimum support price (MSP) or the price at which it buys from farmers, at Rs 1,840 per quintal, up from Rs 1,735 a year earlier, as part of its decision to fix the support price at a minimum of 1.5 times the production cost.
The country's wheat production this season might cross 100 million tonnes, an all-time high. The output stood at record 99.70 million tonnes in the 2017-18 crop year (July-June).