Govt's paddy purchase rises 3% to 4.69 MT

Government’s paddy purchases in the country as on today increased 3.19 per cent to 4.69 million tonnes (MT)during the 2008-09 Kharif marketing season.

“All-India progressive paddy procurement touched 4.69 MT as on today,” Food Corporation of India (FCI) Chairman and Managing Director Alok Sinha told PTI.

FCI has procured 87 per cent of the total arrival of 5.39 MT as on October 14.

Paddy arrival in the country is lower by 18.21 per cent at 5.39 MT in 2008-09, compared with 6.59 MT in the year-ago period, he said.

“Paddy arrivals are lower than last year due to expectation of bonus,” Sinha noted.

The FCI chairman said procurement at minimum support price as proportionate to the market arrivals is far higher than last year’s 4.2 MT.

“With arrivals bound to pick up in the coming days, total rice procurement this year is likely to be as good as last year at 28.44 MT of rice,” he said.

Officials in FCI said that surplus grain stock will help stabilising prices in the open market, as it is ready to allocate more quantities of grains under the open-market scheme.