India: Government’s wheat purchase crosses 1 MT

The government’s wheat purchase from farmers at minimum support price (MSP) in the 2025-26 marketing season (April-June) has commenced on a brisk note.

The agencies have procured over 1 million tonne (MT) till Wednesday against just 0.35 MT of grain purchased during the same period last year. This is because of early purchase and robust arrivals of wheat in  Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, just two weeks back.

With conducive weather conditions leading to robust crop prospects, the government may meet the procurement target of 31 MT for the entire season. In the last three years, MSP purchase of wheat has been below target.

A major chunk of procurement of wheat by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies is reported from Madhya Pradesh at close to 1 MT along with Rajasthan (51,373 tonne) and Uttar Pradesh (10,625 tonne).

Arrivals of wheat in mandis across Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat so far stand at 2.6 MT against just 0.98 MT of grain arrival a year back.

Procurement operations in Punjab and Haryana, two biggest contributors to the central pool stock, are likely to commence by next week.

The government is aiming to buy 31 MT of wheat purchased from farmers under MSP from mainly Punjab (12.4 MT), Haryana (7.5 MT), Madhya Pradesh (6 MT), Uttar Pradesh (3 MT), Rajasthan (2 MT), and Gujarat (0.1 MT) in the 2025-26 season.

Wheat production is projected at a record 115.3 MT during the 2024-25 crop year (July-June) by the agriculture ministry, an increase of 2% over the previous year.

Wheat sowing this season has increased to 32 million hectare (Mha) against 31.56 Mha last year, higher than the average sown area of the last five year.

After achieving a record procurement 43.3 MT in 2021-22 season, the purchase by the government agencies under the MSP operations fell to record low of 18.8 MT in 2022-23 season because of lower output.

However, subsequently it has risen by around 40% to 26.2 MT and 26.6 MT in 2023-24 and 2024-25 marketing years, respectively.

According to an official note, the agencies had purchased 26.6 MT of wheat in the 2024-25 marketing season from 2.2 million farmers by paying the MSP value of Rs 61,000 crore.

At present, FCI has 12 MT of wheat stock against the buffer of 7.46 MT for April 1.

Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan government has announced a bonus payment of Rs 175/quintal and Rs 150/quintal  respectively over the MSP of Rs 2425/quintal announced for the 2024-25 marketing season.

FCI supplies around 18.4 MT of grain for social welfare schemes and any additional procurement in the current season would help it carry out open market sales to curb possible spikes in prices and keep a buffer.

Tags: India, purchase, procurement, MSP, Minimum Support Price, Production, wheat