Wheat Stock

Flour millers want wheat buffer stocks raised to 18 million tonnes, urge free exports, GST relief on flour and warn of delayed sowing in Punjab due to floods

The government on Tuesday further tightened wheat stock-holding norms for wholesalers, small and big chain retailers, and processors to curb hoarding and check price rise. "As part of continuous efforts to moderate prices of wheat before the upcoming festive season, The central government has decided to revise the wheat stock limit applicable until 31st March 2026," the food ministry said in a statement. According to the revised norms, wholesalers are allowed to maintain wheat stock up to 2,000 tonnes instead of 3,000 tonnes, retailer can hold 8 tonnes for each outlet instead of 10 tonnes, while big chain retailer can hold eight tonnes for each outlet instead of 10 tonnes earlier. Processors will be allowed to maintain 60 per cent instead of 70 per cent of their monthly installed capacity multiplied by the remaining months of this fiscal year. In 2025, the government revised wheat stock limits twice: first on February 20, reducing limits to 250 tonne for traders and four tonnes per

As the new rules, traders have been given 15 days to liquidate their excess wheat stocks and bring down the levels within the permissible limits

As the world's second biggest wheat producer, India is counting on a bumper harvest in 2025 to avoid costly imports, following three straight years of poor crop yields since 2022

Area sown to wheat rose 2.77 per cent to Rs 324.38 lakh hectares so far in the ongoing 2024-25 rabi season, while oilseeds acreage remained lower, according to the agriculture ministry data released on Monday. Sowing of wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, is completed and the harvesting will begin from April. As per the data, wheat acreage increased to 324.38 lakh hectare as on January 27 from 315.63 lakh hectares in the year-ago. Area sown to pulses rose to 142.49 lakh hectares from 139.29 lakh hectares, while sowing of coarse cereals remained flat at 55.67 lakh hectares so far this rabi season. However, total area under oilseeds remained lower at 98.18 lakh hectares as on January 27 as against 108.52 lakh hectares in the year-ago period. Total area sown to rabi crops rose to 655.88 lakh hectares from 643.72 lakh hectares in the said period.

Wheat sowing increased by 1.38 per cent year-on-year to 320 lakh hectare so far in the ongoing 2024-25 rabi season, according to the agriculture ministry data released on Tuesday. Wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, was sown in 315.63 lakh hectare in the year-ago period. Sowing of most rabi crops is nearing end. Harvesting will begin from April. According to the data, pulses' acreage remained flat at 139.81 lakh hectare as on January 14, compared to 139.11 lakh hectare in the year-ago period. Gram was covered in 96.65 lakh hectare and lentil in 17.43 lakh hectare. Area sown to oilseeds was lagging behind at 96.82 lakh hectare as against 101.80 lakh hectare. Rapemustard seed was sown in 88.50 lakh hectare as on January 14 as against 93.73 lakh hectare a year ago. Sowing of coarse cereals remained flat at 53.55 lakh hectare so far in the ongoing rabi season.

The decision to re-impose the stock limit that ended in March 2024 was taken even though wheat production in FY24 is expected to be over 112 million tonnes

Centre has imposed a stockholding limit on wheat for retailers, wholesalers, processors and big-chain retailers from Monday, to check the hoarding of the foodgrain and to ensure price stability, a senior official said on Monday. Single retailers, big-chain retailers, processors and wholesalers will disclose wheat stocks every Friday, said Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra in a press briefing here. Chopra stressed that "I want to dispel the shortage of wheat in the country." He also noted that there is no ban on wheat exports as of now and there is no proposal to review a ban on export of sugar. He stated, "We want prices of wheat to be stable." Chopra further informed that the stock limit for wholesalers will be 3,000 tonnes, while it would be 70 per cent of the processing capacity for processors. For big chain retailers it would be 10 tonnes per outlet with an overall limit for 3,000 tonnes and for single retailers it would be 10 tonnes, he informed. Chopra explained that the

The stock holding limit on wheat is also set to expire on March 31, 2024 after which traders have to give details of their inventories on a regular basis

Acreage was around 19 million hectares till last week

Move comes despite agriculture ministry estimating a record production of the cereal grain this year

Farmers in Punjab squatted on railway tracks at many places in the state as part of their four-hour 'rail roko' agitation against the value cut announced by the Centre on shrivelled and broken wheat grains due to untimely rains. The protest impacted the movement of many trains and caused inconvenience to passengers. Several farmer bodies including Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) and BKU (Lakhowal) had announced that they would block rail tracks from 12 noon to 4 pm. Protesters squatted on rail tracks in many places including Ludhiana, Amritsar, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Sangrur, Fazilka, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran. In some places, the protesting farmers even put up tents on the rail tracks. BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan on Tuesday said that farmers restored to the "rail roko" protest against the Centre for imposing the value cut on shrivelled and broken wheat grains for their procurement. He dubbed the government's decision "anti-farmer". In Ferozepur, a

Stock in central pool was 24.4% more than buffer requirement as on January 1; prices at record high of Rs 31-32/kg

According to government estimates, wheat output fell to 106.84 million tonnes in 2022 from 109.59 million tonnes a year earlier

If PMGKAY was continued beyond December 2022, at least Rs 40,000 crore would have got spent for three months (Jan to March)

Wheat prices have surged in India this year after a sudden rise in temperatures hit crop yields and output

Government says stock adequate to meet all PDS and PMGKAY needs

India's stockpile of wheat was above the buffer stock norm at the last scheduled count on October 1 and the next such quarterly review which takes into account seasonal procurement cycle, will be due on January 1. According to a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha by Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal, the minimum buffer requirement changes every quarter, peaking on July 1 when procurement of Rabi crop ends. It dips to the lowest on April 1 as accumulated stocks get released for beneficiaries of government schemes ahead of the new crop coming in. As per the reply, India's wheat stock was 227.46 lakh tonnes on October 1, 2022, as compared to the buffer norm of 205.20 lakh tonnes. The stockpile has since dwindled to 190.27 lakh tonnes as on December 1, 2022, primarily due to the release of foodgrain for supply to poor beneficiaries while hardly any procurement was added to the stockpile. At the next count on January 1, the buffer requirement of wheat is 138 lakh

Wheat stocks in India's government warehouses will fall by about 13% by early next month from current levels but will be sufficient for welfare schemes of the country

Usually wheat is sown in around 30.5 million hectares of which so far around 15.28 million is already sown