May 10, 2011

Indian wheat procurement reaches 21.7 million tonnes

Wheat procurement by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies for the current 2011-12 rabi marketing season (April-June) has attained 217.37 lakh tonnes (lt), according to the information compiled by the Food Ministry on Monday (May 9).

The 217.37 lt is more than the 209.91 lt bought during the corresponding period of 2010-11. Procurement has been higher in Punjab (102.58 lt against 100.83 lt), Haryana (64.14 lt against 62.93 lt), Madhya Pradesh (34 lt against 30.01 lt) and Rajasthan (6.89 lt against 4.31 lt), while decreasing in Uttar Pradesh (8.77 lt against 10.54 lt).

During the entire 2010-11 season, government agencies procured 225.14 lt of wheat, which is likely to be surpassed this time. In fact, Food Ministry officials project total procurement to cross 260 lt, on top of opening stocks of 153.64 lt on April 1, which is likely to cause major storage problems for the FCI.

Even assuming a depletion of 50-55 lt during April-June, the total wheat stock in the central will be around 360 lt on July 1, which is way above the required minimum buffer and strategic reserve of 201 lt for that date.