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Bulk buyers of wheat from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and State agencies are unlikely to get a discount on lower quality foodgrain that had been procured after unseasonal rain and hailstorms over the harvest period.
Quality-wise data will be released next week to ascertain the volume of damaged grain that has been procured, said a Food Ministry official.
The Centre had relaxed quality norms for wheat procurement after the weather disturbances from end-February through early-April damaged the standing wheat crop.
The value cut imposed, if any, on shrivelled, broken or lustre-lost grains would be borne by it so that farmers could be provided the minimum support price. Wheat is sold to bulk buyers at ₹1,550/quintal plus freight charges.
“It is unlikely that there will any reduction in price for millers buying from government agencies. Wheat has been sold at ₹1,550/quintal and will continue to be done so even if the grain is of a lower quality,” said the official.
BusinessLine had reported earlier this month that wheat arriving at markets in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana was of poor quality unfit for making maida flour.
As on May 26, 267.06 lakh tonnes (lt) of wheat had been procured by the FCI and State agencies – 5 lt more than during the corresponding period the year before when 262.86 lt had been lifted.
“The procurement period is reaching a close and we have been tracking the numbers. Quality-wise data of the wheat lifted will be released next week,” said the official.
The FCI had a stock of 341 lt of the foodgrain as on May 1 against the buffer requirement of 210 lt a month earlier. It managed to sell 45 lt in 2014-15 against a 100 lt target in 2014-15, down from 61 lt the previous year.
To liquidate excess stocks, the Centre has decided to sell FCI wheat to millers in Punjab and Haryana from June.
Wheat output is set to slide marginally to 907.8 lt in current crop year from a record 958.5 lt in 2013-14.
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