India for finding permanent solution to food stockholding at WTO meet

India has called for finding a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding for food security in the ministerial-level meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in February 2024, an official said.

It has dismissed arguments for alternative food security solutions beyond PSH (public stock holding) and SSM (special safeguard mechanism) and believes that market access and export restriction are not worth the effort, the Geneva-based official said.

India has also pitched for the need to recalculate the external reference prices to reflect the impact of inflation and other economic factors on food stock prices.

The issue was discussed during a special session of the WTO's Committee on Agriculture on May 3 and 4 in Geneva.

"India declared that it has no intention of revising the existing proposal for public stockholding for food security purposes and suggested that it is the only way forward. India called for a permanent solution for PSH at MC13 (13th ministerial conference