Wheat procurement up 10 pc at 27.6 MT so far in 2014-15

Wheat procurement during 2014-15 marketing year (April-March) has increased by 10 per cent to 27.6 million tonnes (MT) so far, on account of higher lifting from Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.
According to latest official data, total wheat arrival in grain markets as on date is about 34 million tonnes (MT). Of this, 27.6 MT have been lifted by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other state agencies.
The remaining 6.4 MT of wheat have been lifted by private traders and flour millers.
In same period last year, the total wheat arrival was about 28.7 MT out of which FCI and other state agencies had procured 25 MT and the rest by private players, an official said.

He added that procurement for the current season has almost been completed.
Wheat procurement in the largest producing state, Punjab was up 8 per cent to 11.9 MT so far from 11 MT during the same period last year.

Lifting of wheat in the neighbouring state Haryana was up 16 per cent to 6.49 MT from 5.6 MT during the period under review. In the same period, the procurement in Madhya Pradesh was up by 18 per cent to 7.1 MT from 6 MT.
The government this year had made the arrangements to procure 31 MT of wheat during the current marketing year. In the marketing year 2013-14 procurement was at 25.4 MT.

In second advance estimate by the Agriculture Ministry, government has estimated wheat production to rise at record 95.60 million tonnes in 2013-14 crop year against 93.51 million tonnes in the previous year.
In October last year, government had raised the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat by Rs 50 to Rs 1,400 per quintal to encourage farmers to cover more area under the crop in the ongoing rabi season.
MSP is the rate at which government buys the grain from farmers.
The crop's sowing begins in October and harvesting starts from April onwards. The government procures most of wheat from farmers during April-June.