Amid a surge in exports and studies of a decline in manufacturing which have pushed mandi costs above the minimal help value (MSP), wheat procurement by the Food Corporation of India and state authorities businesses has declined sharply in comparison with the earlier yr.
MSP purchases of wheat stood at 15.3 million tonne (MT) on Thursday, down by greater than 38% from the year-ago stage.
Sources advised FE this yr’s wheat procurement can be round 20 – 22 MT towards the goal of 44 MT.
Currently, mandi costs of wheat in key producing states like Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are ruling at 8-10% above the MSP of Rs 2,015 per quintal.
The sharpest fall in wheat procurement this session has been in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.
In Uttar Pradesh, the most important producer of grain, the place the state authorities has bought simply 0.11 MT of wheat to date, whereas it had procured 0.87 MT throughout the identical interval in 2021.
According to an Uttar Pradesh meals division official, the principle function of the MSP-based wheat procurement initiative was to make sure that farmers are usually not paid costs beneath MSP and there was no misery sale of the commodity. “Now that farmers are getting better prices in the market, our purpose is achieved,” the official mentioned.
In Haryana to date, wheat buy from farmers has declined by greater than 50% to three.69 MT towards 7.5 MT of buy throughout the identical interval final yr.
In Rajasthan, solely a small amount of wheat has been bought by authorities businesses towards 0.67 MT procurement final yr.
More than 8.35 MT of wheat has been procured in Punjab to date towards 9.6 MT of grain bought throughout the identical interval final yr. Punjab is the second-biggest producer of wheat within the nation and likewise contributes the best quantity of grain to the central pool.
Madhya Pradesh, which had introduced incentives such because the abolition of mandi taxes and different levies from the wheat bought for export, state civil provides company until Thursday has procured 3.1 MT of wheat towards 5.8 MT bought throughout the identical interval final yr.
In different key producing states resembling Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, the wheat procurement has been fairly sluggish to date.
“We are currently buying wheat at the price of Rs 22.50/kg, which is above the MSP of Rs 20.15/kg,” Shammi Agarwal, managing director, Pansari Group, a Delhi-based FMCG main, acknowledged.
This time, wheat procurement is being keenly watched as a surge in exports due to disruption in world provides over the Ukraine-Russia battle has pushed up demand for wheat from India.
India is aiming at exporting 10 MT of wheat in 2022-23. In 2021-22, India exported a report 7 MT of wheat.
There are additionally issues in regards to the drop in wheat manufacturing within the 2021-22 crop yr (July-June) due to unusually excessive temperatures in the course of the finish of March which had impacted the yield. However, the agriculture ministry continues to be sticking to its estimates of 111.32 MT of wheat manufacturing this yr in comparison with 103.88 MT within the 2020-21 crop yr.
At the National Kharif Conference held final week, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, nevertheless, dominated out any drop in wheat manufacturing this yr. But going by the feed-backs from key mandis, the manufacturing might be a minimum of 10% decrease than the estimate.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”