Early wheat arrivals in Punjab raise yield expectations
Patiala: Punjab is witnessing early and accelerated wheat arrivals, with 4.60 LMT reaching grain markets by April 14—up from 1.40 LMT last year. Procurement has also jumped to 3.40 LMT, compared to 0.90 LMT in the same period. Experts credit ideal weather and no crop damage, predicting a 10% rise in total arrivals this season.
Patiala: Amid forecasts of a bumper wheat harvest in Punjab by agricultural experts, the state is seeing advanced arrivals and faster procurement in grain markets compared to last year. As of April 14 this year, wheat arrivals in Punjab’s grain markets reached 4.60 lakh metric tonnes (LMT), significantly higher than 1.40 LMT during the same period last year. Similarly, procurement stood at 3.40 LMT this year, up from
0.90 LMT in the corresponding period of the previous year.
By Wednesday, Sangrur recorded 1,23,259 MT wheat arrivals, including 60,152 MT arrived on Wednesday alone against the last year’s 10,048 MT arrival till April 16.
There are 1,864 mandis and procurement centres across Punjab. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is also reported to have set a target of procuring 124 lakh tonnes from the state. With the rise in demand for wheat across the globe, private players have already started purchasing the wheat crop from the grain markets. Last year, private purchase reached 7.55 LMT, whereas in 2020-21, the private purchase
stood at 0.58 LMT.
The total procurement of the wheat crop was 127.62 LMT in 2020-21 and 132.21 LMT during 2021-22. Similarly, in 2022-23, a total of 102.76 LMT was purchased, as compared to 125.75 LMT and 132.11 LMT in 2023-24 and 2024-25, respectively. Experts in the field revealed that the crop was cultivated over 34 lakh hectares in Punjab. During the entire season for the wheat crop, the temperature remained ideally suitable for the crop, while no natural calamity or any major damage to the standing crop during its maturing stage was reported.
The govt reportedly has adequate storage space of at least 135 LMT, including covered godowns and covered area plinths, whereas around 15 LMT will be picked up from mandis to be transported to consumer states for the public distribution system (PDS) under the National Food Security Act. DGM Mandi Board, Swaran Singh, said a rise of around 10 per cent is expected in the wheat crop arrivals this
year in the grain markets, as hopes are high for a bumper crop.
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Source : The Times Of India
