Wheat procurement to hit 3-year high in 2024-25

An early start to wheat procurement helped the government purchase 31 per cent of the arrivals until March 31. In comparison, the procurement was less than 13 per cent of the arrivals in the yearago period. While wheat arrivals, at 8.26 lakh tonnes (lt) in March, were only 3 per cent more than the yearago period, the higher procurement indicates that the message to the private trade has yielded results.

The procurement season usually starts from April 1, but this year purchases started as early as March 13, in Rajasthan.

Food Ministry data show that wheat procurement reached 2.56 lt until March 31, which is over twoandhalf times the 98,500 tonnes purchased in the yearago period. The Centre procured 2.52 lt from Madhya Pradesh, 3,325 tonnes from Rajasthan and 147 tonnes from Uttar Pradesh.

MAY TOP TARGET

“...the government will definitely have higher procurement than last year and it may even exceed its target,” said the CEO of a leading private company having stakes in wheat trading and processing.

In the 202324 season, the government had procured 26.2 million tonnes (mt) of wheat against the target of 34.15 mt and in 202223 only 18.8 mt (44.4 mt).

While the Agriculture Ministry has pegged the wheat production at 112.02 mt for the 202324 crop year (JulyJune), the Food Ministry has pegged the likely procurement at 37.29 mt in the marketing year beginning April 1. The Centre hopes to buy 13 mt of wheat from Punjab, 8 mt each from Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, 6 mt from Uttar Pradesh and 2 mt in Rajasthan.

According to official data, the Centre has 9.69 mt of wheat in its reserve as of March 1, the lowest since 2017, when the stock was at 9.43 mt.

MSP OR MORE

On the price front, traders said except in some parts of Madhya Pradesh, farmers are realising either the minimum support price (MSP) or more for wheat. Some commongrade wheat is selling at about ₹2,160/quintal, even as the State government has been buying at ₹2,400, that is, ₹125/quintal more than the MSP.

In Uttar Pradesh, where the government has bought less than 150 tonnes out of reported arrivals of 24,000 tonnes, the market rates are in the ₹2,3602,625/quintal range.

IMD FORECAST

Good news on the wheat front came the India Meteorological Department on Monday. Releasing its weather forecast for AprilJune, DirectorGeneral Mrityunjay Mohapatra said: “There is no heat wave warning for wheatproducing States except in Madhya Pradesh.”