New Delhi: The procurement of wheat by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to maintain the Union government’s buffer stocks has dropped by 37% compared to what it was around the same time last year.
Data available until April 18 shows that total wheat procurement stood at 60.58 lakh tonnes compared to 95.36 lakh tonnes a year ago.
The decline in procurement is due to a shortfall in the arrival of produce to mandis. In Punjab alone, only 13% of the expected arrival of wheat has reached mandis so far. Compared to last year’s 31.68 lakh tonne wheat procured in mandis by mid-April, only 3.31 lakh tonne was procured in the state.
The sharp decrease in wheat arrival at mandis is, in turn, due to grain getting wet because of recent rains. Last year, by April 18, 130.97 lakh tonnes had reached mandis, however, this year it was down to 86.23 lakh tonnes.
Officials are hoping more wheat to reach mandis once the wet grain dries up. Meanwhile, millers in Punjab are not purchasing grain, expecting to buy from FCI, as it had promised to sell a quintal wheat at Rs 2,300, at a price lower than in the open market.
Similarly, in Madhya Pradesh, procurement has come down to 24.55 lakh tonnes compared to 27.98 lakh tonnes last year. In Haryana too, procurement has come down by 18%, from last year’s 35.05 lakh tonne to 28.73 lakh tonne.
