Flour mills push up wheat prices in Ludhiana

Heavy buying by local flour mills has pushed up the wheat price in Ludhiana by Rs 40 to Rs 890 per quintal, the highest price offered since the beginning of wheat procurement this year.

"Flour mills have been offering to buy wheat at a rate between Rs 885 and Rs 890 per quintal at Khanna grain market in view of low arrival of wheat crop in grain market across the state for their own consumption," said an official of the department of food and supplies here.

However, market experts have termed the surge in wheat price as "temporary trend" which would not last long.

"The flour mills panicked due to low arrival of wheat which forced them to buy wheat at a higher price. Once their requirement gets fulfiled, the price would automatically come down to a normal level," said an expert.

According to estimates, big farmers have hoarded almost 20 lakh tonne of wheat across the state in order to get remunerative prices for their crop.

"Farmers, who have stored their crop in anticipation of fetching higher price, are expected to bring their crop in grain markets in the month of July. As a result, the price would further crash," said Raj Sood, a market analyst.

Wheat arrivals in Ludhiana including Khanna, Asia's biggest grain market, have registered a dip of 24.58 per cent at 4.79 lakh tonnes till May 1 as against 6.35 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period last year.