Farmers are selling wheat at ease this year
“In India, wheat prices are presiding above Minimum Support Prices (MSP) and farmers are even getting around the benchmark rate at their doorstep without bothering to bring their grain to the market yard or procurement center. Only that lower quality wheat is available below USD 0,25 per kg which is MSP” an official said.
15th May, wheat procurement crossed over 25 Million Tonnes (MT). The total acquisitions tracked down between 26 MT and 27 MT this year. By the end of May, the procedure of wheat procurement will be over in the states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. There are chances that wheat could be a surplus of about 8 MT against the annual demand under the food security law and other welfare schemes, potentially helping the government to make provision for market interference.
Last week, Food Corporation of India Chairman Ashok K Meena said the procurement could be around 27 MT, whereas the government’s requirement is 18.4 MT, excluding buffer norms.
Wheat procurement is going on in full fledge – Punjab’s contribution is more
As per updated official data, wheat procurement in the ongoing season has rushed 43.6% to 25.9 MT as of May 15 in the ongoing season (April-June) against 18.04 MT a year ago. Official purchases in the country dropped to a 15-year low of 18.79 MT in 2022-23, prompting the government to ban exports that still continue.
Punjab contributed 13.2 Million Tonnes, Madhya Pradesh contributed 8 Million Tonnes and 7.5 Million Tonne was contributed by Haryana for total official procurement. Aggregated purchases are 28.7 Million tonnes.
State-wise procurement
The procurement in Haryana was 4.07 MT in the previous year, while it is 6.29 MT in the current year, as of 15th May. The target was to buy 7.5 MT which could not be achieved. Only 1.4k Tonnes of wheat were of Fair Average Quality (FAQ) while the remaining was Under Relaxed Specification (URS).
Punjab has shown a 26% rise in purchases at 12.05 MT as of 15th May, a year-ago level of 9.56 MT. Madhya Pradesh has shown a remarkable up of 67.8% at 6.98 MT, from 4.16 MT.
Uttar Pradesh is the largest wheat producer. But it has reported a 16.9% increase at 0.19 MT from 0.24 MT, official data show.
Rajasthan has contributed 0.37 MT to the Central Pool stock so far, against only 758 tonnes in the previous year.
Synopsis
Even as the central government is reviewing the extent of damage caused to the wheat crop due to unseasonal rain, it has already ruled out resuming the wheat export, banned last year, due to domestic supply concerns. This year in 2023, India was aiming for production of 112 Million Tonnes of wheat production, 5% higher than last year. It had sown wheat over 34 Million Hectares across the country, which is marginally higher than last year.