The Hindu Business Line : Wheat buy by FCI tops 20 million tonnes

New Delhi, May 4 Wheat procurement by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and State agencies for the ongoing 2008-09 rabi marketing season (April-June) has crossed the 20 million-tonne-mark.

As per the latest compiled official data released here on Monday, Government agencies have so far bought 203.58 lakh tonnes (lt), compared to 163.88 lt procured during the corresponding period of the 2008-09 season.

However, the pace of procurement has slowed down considerably, with daily purchases of 1.55 lt as against 4.25 lt on the same day of the previous year. Of the 1.55 lt, the bulk was accounted for by Uttar Pradesh (83,213 tonnes), followed by Punjab (45,481 tonnes) and Madhya Pradesh (24,093 tonnes).

“This time, there has been a lot of early harvests, as a result of which much of the wheat has already been marketed. What little procurement remains would mainly be from Uttar Pradesh,” trade sources said. At the current rate, it appears that total buys will fall well short of last year’s all-time record of 226.89 lt.

“We will probably see procurement of about 105 lt from Punjab, 67 lt from Haryana, 30 lt from Uttar Pradesh plus Madhya Pradesh, 8.5 lt from Rajasthan and 1.5 lt from all others put together. The total, then, adds up to slightly over 210 lt,” they added.

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