Govt wheat procurement drive officially commences
To bolster stock, which has plummeted to a 16-year low, the government’s wheat procurement drive for the 2024-24 rabi marketing season (April-June) commenced officially on Monday.
The government has set a target of 30 to 32 million tonne (MT) of wheat purchase during the season by government agencies, which is expected to boost stocks as well as allow the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to carry out open market sale of the grain to bulk buyers.
Wheat stocks with the FCI declined to 7.57 MT on Sunday, against a buffer of 7.46 MT for April 1 due to low procurement for the last two years and aggressive sale of grains in the open market by the corporation in FY24. The last time wheat stocks were below the current levels was way back in 2008. It had then dropped to 5.8 MT in April in that year.
However, this year, the agencies have commenced purchase operations early last month and so far, purchased 0.25 MT of wheat in mostly Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Uttar Pradesh, the biggest producer of wheat, has commenced purchase operations.
Madhya Pradesh, the second biggest contributor to the central pool wheat stock after Punjab, is aiming to procure 8.2 MT of grain in the 2024-25 rabi marketing season. Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have declared a bonus of `125/quintal over the minimum support price (MSP) of `2275/quintal for the season.
Punjab and Haryana, two key contributors to the central pool stock, commenced their MSP operation on Monday. Punjab and Haryana have set a wheat purchase target of 13 MT and 5 MT respectively for the marketing season.
After achieving a record procurement 43.3 MT in 2021-22 season, the purchase by the government agencies under the MSP operations fell to record low of 18.8 MT in 2022-23 season. However, it rose by around 40% to 26.2 MT in 2023-24 in the rabi marketing season.
Source Link: https://www.financialexpress.com/policy/economy-govt-wheat-procurement-drive-officially-commences-3443337/
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