Five state agencies procure over 107 lakh tonnes of paddy

Chandigarh, Nov 3 (UNI) The five state agencies--Pungrain, Markfed, Punsup, Punjab State Warehousing Corporation and Punjab Agro--have procured over 107 lakh tonnes of paddy out of the total purchase of 117,79,484 tonnes of paddy in the state till yesterday.

Pungrain procured 32,28,891 tonnes of paddy whereas Markfed procured 25,24,133 tonnes of paddy, Punsup procured 24,44,551 tonnes of paddy, Punjab State Warehousing Corporation 13,68,320 tonnes of paddy while 11,56,980 tonnes of paddy procured by Punjab Agro.

The Central Government Agency FCI has so far procured only 1,88,047 tonnes of paddy. The millers have procured 8,68,562 tonnes of paddy (7.4 per cent) by Sunday.

Ludhiana district has now overtaken Ferozepur in paddy procurement. In Ludhiana an estimated 13,49,638 tonnes of paddy had been procured while in Ferozepur district this figure was 11,83,494 tonnes.

Six government agencies have paid over Rs 8828.64 crores for paddy procured by agencies current Kharif Marketing Season.

UNI PS BP1914