Wheat procurement increases by 15.2% despite delay in grain arrivals

Wheat procurement in the country has increased by 15.2 percent to 32.95 lakh tonnes in the current rabi marketing season so far, even as arrivals of the grain from Punjab and Haryana have been delayed due to untimely rains and late harvest. Harvesting of wheat crop got delayed by two weeks in both the states due to slowed ripening of the standing crop on extended cold conditions.

The purchase of the staple was about 28 lakh tonnes in the period under review of the last rabi marketing season, which starts from April. While, Wheat purchase was lower at 28,000 tonnes in Punjab this season to date against about 2 lakh tonnes last year. Similarly in Haryana, the procurement was about 42 percent down at 6.98 lakh tonnes this season against 12.18 tonnes in the last year.

Notably, Punjab and Haryana have fixed procurement target of 185 lakh tonnes in current marketing season 2012-13. Punjab has projected wheat output of 156 lakh tonnes with an area of 35.15 lakh hectares while Haryana aims at production of 118.61 lakh tonnes, having an area of 25.05 lakh hectares.

Madhya Pradesh, the largest contributing state up to now this season, purchased 24.07 lakh tonnes of wheat, which is about 70 per cent higher than 14.09 lakh tonnes in the same period last season. In Uttar Pradesh, wheat purchase was 32,000 tonnes, while Rajasthan contributed 91,000 tonnes of grain to the central pool this season so far. The procurement has been over three-times higher at 33,155 tonnes in Gujarat this season against 10,543 tonnes last year.

Wheat output in India, the world’s second largest producer, is estimated at a record 88.31 million tonnes in the 2011-12 crop year (July-June). The government expects that figure could cross 90 million tonnes.