Wheat Procurement Slump: Impact of Late Crop Arrivals and Weather Challenges

Government agencies have reported a significant downturn in wheat procurement, witnessing an 11.37% decrease from the previous year. This has been attributed to delayed crop arrivals in the mandis.

The Food Corporation of India (FCI), alongside various state agencies, reported procurement of 148 lakh tonnes this rabi marketing season, down from the previous year's 167 lakh tonnes. Procurement activity typically occurs from March to April, with a large volume bought in early months.

This slowdown has prompted procurement norms to be relaxed, particularly concerning lustre loss and broken grains, affecting states like Punjab, Haryana, and others, following damaging weather conditions. Officials assure that the storage capabilities remain unaffected by this reduced procurement rate.