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Telangana and Chhattisgarh are two exceptions where procurement of paddy has gone up in current season, while there has been one per cent drop pan-India in purchase of the key kharif cereal since October 1.
Punjab, where procurement exceeded the State’s production last year, has seen an eight per cent fall in paddy purchase; while poll-bound Uttar Pradesh has reported 18 per cent drop during on-going season.
Overall purchases of paddy in the country are at 497.48 lakh tonnes (lt) as of January 3, against 502.79 lt year-ago, official data show. The target for this kharif season is 528.26 lt in terms of rice.
Telangana — where procurement began late due to the stand-off between State and the Centre on parboiled rice issue — has seen over a 50 per cent increase at 63.85 lt, while it was up 4.3 per cent at 55.09 lt in Chhattisgarh. The target for Telangana is 46 lt in terms of rice from the kharif crop and 93 per cent has already been procured.
Haryana has seen a 2.2 per cent drop at 55.30 lt, while Odisha has reported 40.36 per cent decline at 13.86 lt.
Prices below MSP
“It is surprising to see a fall in paddy procurement as the estimated rice production this kharif is at record 1,070 lt and mandi prices in most of the producing states are ruling below the minimum support price (MSP),” said Ashok Garg, a trader in Hapur, Uttar Pradesh. The average mandi prices are between ₹1,800 and ₹1,900 per quintal now against paddy MSP of ₹1,940/quintal, traders said. However, there are also reports of farmers selling paddy at ₹1,500-1,600 to middlemen at village levels, mainly in eastern parts of the country.
FCI stock position
FCI’s rice stock position should be 86 lt (buffer norm and strategic reserve) as of January 1, whereas it had 213 lt of rice and additional 358.78 lt in form of paddy as on December 1, 2021. The agency is likely to have almost same level of stock in view of on-going procurement season.
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