Wheat procurement at slow pace, may not touch official target

New Delhi, Apr 26 (UNI) Current procurement of wheat is at such a low pace that state agencies and Food Corporation of India (FCI) together could purchase only 82 lakh tonnes from the arrival of 105 lakh tonnes in the markets till last evening, raising apprehensions in the Food Ministry about its target of procuring 15 million tonnes. During the corresponding period last year, the procurement was 117 lakh tonnes of wheat out of an arrival of 123 lakh tonnes with only 6 lakh tonnes, less than five per cent taken away by the private trade.

This year, the share of private trade in the total arrivals in markets (mandis) of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh so far was about 22 per cent while it was less than five per cent during the same period last year.

The cornering of huge stocks by the private trade including MNCs like Cargill and Australian Wheat Board (AWB) this season forced the govenrment to announce bonus, albeit, late last weekend. By the time the bonus was announced two-third of the farmers surplus crop had already been arrived in markets.

According to reports from Punjab and Haryana, the traders who bought wheat from farmers at Rs 652 to 670 (a few Rupee above Minimum Support Price of Rs 650 a quintal) are now reselling the stock at Rs 700 a quintal).

So far, the procurement from Punjab, which contributes maximum to the Central Pool, is around 61 lakh tonnes against 75 lakh tonnes during corresponding period last year.

In Madhya Pradesh, the purchase of wheat for the Central Pool is almost nil against a total procurement of 4,83,950 quintal last year.

Similarly, in UP, the state agencies procured only 18,000 quintals of wheat till yesterday while the official purchase during correspending period last year was 61,775 quintals.

UNI JSS/BBS PV ND1810