FCI's wheat procurement falls to 27.6 MT this year

State-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) has procured 27.6 million tonnes (MT) of wheat in the 2015-16 marketing season, marginally lower than 28 MT last year.

The central nodal agency had set the wheat procurement target of 30 MT for this season. Wheat procurement begins from April and runs through June.

"Wheat procurement has officially been completed in all states. FCI has purchased 27.6 million tonnes at the support price from farmers," a senior Food Ministry official said.

The procurement picked up pace after the government relaxed quality norms for purchase of the grain. More than 80 per cent of wheat has been procured based on relaxed norms, the official said.

The quality norms (with respect to luster loss and shrivelled and broken grains) had to be eased after unseasonal rains in March damaged the wheat crop in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

As per the official data, wheat procurement in Punjab declined to 9.9 MT this season, as against 10.5 MT in the year-ago period.

Similarly, wheat purchase in Madhya Pradesh fell to 7.26 MT from 9.07 million tonnes, while that of in Haryana, wheat procurement reached similar to last year's level at 6.75 MT.

The wheat purchases in Uttar Pradesh too fell to 2.26 from 3.73 MT, while that of in Rajasthan it fell to 1.29 from 1.42 MT in the period under the review.

In Gujarat, the procurement remained lower at 70,772 tonnes in the April-June season of this marketing year, as against 9,69,142 tonnes in the year-ago period.

As per the government's third advance estimate, wheat output is pegged lower at 90.78 MT for 2014-15 crop year (July-June), as against the record 95.85 MT last year.