FCI procures 100,000 tonnes of wheat
New Delhi: The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has procured over 100,000 tonnes of wheat domestically in the current 2024-25 rabi marketing season after advancing the start of annual purchases by more than a fortnight. The rabi market season runs from April to September. The Centre started procuring wheat on 13 March this year as opposed to the usual 1 April, amid falling stocks.
Additionally, the government wanted to align procurement more closely with production levels. Production in the key states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar was low in the past two seasons. However, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have made a recovery this year – just ahead of general elections which kick off on 19 April.
As of now, wheat stocks with the FCI, which maintains the government's granaries, stand at 7.71 million tonnes (mt), a 16-year low, against the buffer norm of 7.46 mt as of 1 April. The last time wheat stocks were below this level was back in 2008 when it had dropped to 5.8 mt. After procuring 43.3 mt under the minimum support price (MSP) operations in the 2021-22 season, such purchases by government agencies fell to record low of 18.8 mt in 2022-23.
However, it rose by around 40% to 26.2 mt in the 2023-24 rabi marketing season. The recent procurement of wheat is attributed to the advancement of procurement period, with procurement having already started in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. It will kick off in Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir from April onwards, the FCI said on Thursday.
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