iGrain India - Government procurement of wheat likely to shrink to around 270 lakh tonnes
New Delhi. The pace of government procurement of wheat for the central pool has slowed down considerably and limited quantity of wheat is arriving at government procurement centres. Within the last few days, just over 223 lakh tonnes of wheat was procured.
For the last one week, its average daily procurement is being recorded at only 30-32 thousand tonnes. Although the government has set a target of huge procurement of 373 lakh tonnes of wheat this year, but the current data shows that when the procurement process will formally (officially) close on 30 June 2024, the actual procurement of wheat will reach only around 270 lakh tonnes.
The wheat procurement process has ended in some states, while it is going to end soon in other states. Although the Central Government has increased the minimum support price of wheat by Rs 150 from Rs 2125 per quintal last year to Rs 2275 per quintal this year, the wholesale market price is running above this and big producers are trying to suppress its stock with the expectation of further increase in prices in the coming months.
According to official figures, during the current year, till the morning of 30 May, the total government purchase of wheat could reach only 263.99 lakh tonnes, which is about 2.23 lakh tonnes more than the purchase of 261.76 lakh tonnes till 23 May.
Although more than 37.02 lakh farmers registered themselves for the sale of wheat, but out of this only 20.89 lakh tonnes of farmers have been able to sell their wheat. So far, Rs 56,771.8 crore has been paid to these farmers.
The government purchase of wheat is still about 106 lakh tonnes behind the fixed target, while the pace of purchase is very slow. In such a situation, the target of purchase is continuously going away.