The agriculture ministry estimates wheat production at record 115.43 mt during 2024-25 crop year (July-June), up from 113.29 mt in 2023-24
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PTI
As wheat procurement reaches near 20 million tonnes (mt), the pace of purchases slows down amid reported pile up of grain in Punjab and Haryana. The procurement until April 24 was 19.86 mt against 13.58 mt a year-ago, up by 46 per cent.
The daily procurement on April 24 was 1.47 mt, as against 1.67 mt a year-ago, down 11.5 per cent whereas it was 14.1 per cent up on April 21 at 1.48 mt against 1.3 mt.
“The daily procurement has not dipped, whereas the year-ago quantity is up and this is largely due to late harvesting in 2024, compared to this year,” an official source explained. However, he said that private procurement has gone up in last 7-10 days, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, due to which prices have marginally inched up.
On the other hand, there are reports coming from few districts of Punjab and Haryana about wheat being piled up due to slow evacuation of grain outside these states. Sources said that some of the newly built silos are full and the government has been arranging more rakes to take out the grain outside these States.
According to latest data, wheat procurement in Punjab has surpassed all other States despite late start and has reached 6.84 mt as of April 24 this season, against 4.58 mt in the year-ago period. Haryana has reported its procurement to have reached 5.89 mt against 5.19 mt a year-ago. As usual, both these States are expected to contribute significantly to the Central Pool.
Based on the feedback of the State governments, the Centre has fixed a target to procure 31.27 mt of wheat this year, which includes 12.4 mt from Punjab, 7.5 mt from Haryana, 6 mt from Madhya Pradesh, 3 mt from Uttar Pradesh, 2 mt from Rajasthan, 0.2 mt from Bihar and 0.1 mt from Gujarat.
The agriculture ministry estimates wheat production at record 115.43 mt during 2024-25 crop year (July-June), up from 113.29 mt in 2023-24.
According to data, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has procured 5.65 mt so far this year against 3.11 mt in the year-ago period in Madhya Pradesh, after procurement began from March 15. The state government has announced a bonus of ₹175/quintal over and above the minimum support price (MSP) of ₹2,425/quintal. The government had purchased 4.84 mt from MP in the entire season last year.
Rajasthan, where the government has relaxed the quality norms under the fair, average quality (FAQ) standards, the procurement has reached 0.88 mt, as against less than 0.26 mt year-ago. It is likely to buy close to the target of 2 mt due to bonus, paid by State government.
But, Uttar Pradesh continues to be concern as the pace of procurement has not seen any major improvement despite unofficial ban on providing rakes to private traders for moving out the grain out of the state. Sources said that traders are paying ₹2600-2650/quintal in Shahjahanpur, considered a key growing region for better quality.
But, the Agmarknet portal shows that mandi prices of wheat this month hover between ₹2,450/quintal and ₹2,500/quintal in Shahjahanpur, UP. In most of the key wheat markets of the state, rates are marginally above MSP while the state average was ₹2,446/quintal on Friday.
The average wheat price in Madhya Pradesh was ₹2,494/quintal, in Rajasthan ₹2,473/quintal, in Haryana ₹2,426/quintal and in Punjab ₹2,427/quintal on Friday.
After the Centre procured record 43.34 mt of wheat in 2021-22, the procurement has been continuously missing the target in last three years as government could buy 18.79 mt in 2022-23 (target 44.4 mt), 26.2 mt in 2023-24 (target 34.15 mt) and 26.61 mt in 2024-25 (target 37.3 mt).
Published on April 25, 2025
