Express View on wheat procurement: Relief amid fear of inflation, poor monsoon
Global food prices have eased and that should considerably aid the government’s supply management programme
Wheat procurement by government agencies has touched 20.5 million tonnes (mt) in the ongoing rabi marketing season. The fact that it has already crossed the 18.8 mt for the whole of the last season is proof of a better crop this time. Last year’s heat wave-impacted crop, in combination with surging prices fueled by export demand and the Ukraine war, had resulted in governmental wheat purchases plunging to the lowest since 2007. This year’s crop has also suffered damage from unseasonal rains during the second half of March, but production doesn’t seem to have taken as much of a hit. That should be a matter of comfort, especially given the stocks of wheat at the start of the current marketing season. These, at 8.3 mt, were the lowest in six years and just over the required minimum of 7.5 mt for April 1.
