Over 1.75 lakh bags of wheat arrived at the Karnal Grain Market Terminal on Thursday. Increase in arrivals and slow lifting has slowed the pace of wheat procurement, said market sources.

New wheat was quoted at Rs 1,285 a quintal, which is also the minimum support price. The quality of the stock is good and 343 and 117 were the main varieties that arrived at the market.

On the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, wheat for May delivery decreased by Rs 5 to Rs 1,180 a quintal after touching a low at Rs 1,177 a quintal earlier on Thursday. On the MCX, spot wheat prices decreased by Rs 1.20 to Rs 1,316.7 a quintal.

Flour Prices

Flour was quoted at Rs 160 for a 10-kg bag. Branded flour such as Shakti Bhog and Ashirwad were quoted at Rs 200 and Rs 215 for a 10-kg bag, respectively. On the other hand, Chokar prices remained unchanged and sold at Rs 600 for a 49-kg bag.

Farmers' Protest

Meanwhile, wheat growers from Uttar Pradesh blocked the Karnal-Meerut road near the Yamuna bridge on the Haryana-Uttar Pradesh boundary for over 30 hours. They were demanding that they be allowed to sell wheat in Haryana and were angry at the the ban imposed by the Haryana Government on the import of wheat from neighbouring States, said Mr Sewa Singh Arya, State president, BKU.

Farmers withdrew the blockade after an agreement was signed with the State officials, he said. The blockade began at 8 am on Wednesday and was lifted around 3 pm on Thursday.

According to the agreement, 19,800 quintals of wheat a day from Uttar Pradesh would be procured by the Haryana State Government, for one and a half month, at Prabudh Nagar. Earlier, the State Government had made it clear that only wheat produced by the local farmers would be purchased as they don't have enough storage space.

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