India’s wheat procurement down 9% on lower buy in Madhya Pradesh
India procured 23.25 million tonnes of wheat by April 30, lower than last year due to weak Madhya Pradesh purchases. Punjab and Haryana performed strongly, with Haryana exceeding targets. Procurement may end early as targets near completion, while relaxed quality norms helped manage weather-damaged crops affected by unseasonal rains.
The Indian government procured 23.25 million tonnes (mt) of wheat for its buffer stocks as of April 30, 2026, down from 25.63 mt a year ago. This was mainly due to purchases in Madhya Pradesh being low. It procured 2.75 mt, down 59 per cent from 6.768 mt a year ago, despite improvement in procurement during the second fortnight. The Centre plans to buy 34.5 mt of wheat by June 30 this year.
However, with daily arrival falling in two major States – Haryana and Punjab- the procurement may be completed before May 15, with 97 per cent of target already being achieved. The daily arrival on April 30 was 3.38 lakh tonnes (lt) against 4.07 lt a year ago in Punjab and about 25,900 tonnes against more than 46,000 tonnes in Haryana.
According to latest data, the procurement in Punjab reached 11.10 mt (including about 10.5 mt only in the second fortnight) against 10.39 mt a year ago, up by 7 per cent. The Centre has fixed a target to procure 11.2 mt of wheat from Punjab in 2026-27, against 11.92 mt bought in 2025-26. Notably, the current year’s purchase also includes 1.81 lt of grain under relaxed quality even as there were reports of widespread lustre loss in several districts due to unseasonal rains and hailstorms in Punjab.
Haryana target topped
In Haryana, the Centre has purchased 7.66 mt of wheat so far, exceeding the target of 7.2 mt, and is up by 17 per cent from 6.57 mt a year ago. In 2025-26, the Centre bought 7.14 mt of wheat from Haryana.
The wheat purchase in Madhya Pradesh continued to trail from the year-ago level despite some improvement in the second fortnight. The fall was 91 per cent in first 15 days despite purchase being allowed to start from March 15 instead of normal April 1. The drop has narrowed to 13 per cent over the past 15 days.
Even with lower purchase, the Centre has raised the overall target in the state from 7.8 mt to 10 mt. In 2025-26, the Centre procured 7.77 mt of wheat from Madhya Pradesh. Besides, the State government has been implementing additional bonus over and above the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 2,585 per quintal to procure wheat in Madhya Pradesh.
The purchase in Uttar Pradesh reached 7.12 lt against 7.54 lt and in Rajasthan at 9.76 lt from 11.44 lt, data show. In Bihar, the procurement has reached 19,485 tonnes, up by 36 per cent from 14,291 tonnes a year ago.
The government last week had raised the purchase target in Uttar Pradesh from 1 mt to 2.5 mt, in Rajasthan from 2.1 mt to 2.35 mt and in Bihar from 0.18 lt to 1.8 lt.
The Centre earlier asked the State agencies to keep wheat procured under relaxed specifications (URS) category separately stored and accounted. Unseasonal rain in March and April led to higher moisture content in wheat grains, along with issues such as shrinkage and loss of lustre. As a result, a large portion of the crop was falling outside the prescribed quality standards, affecting the procurement process.
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Source : The Hindu Businessline
