Wheat procurement touches record level, storage crisis deepens

NEW DELHI: Despite significant drop in daily arrival of wheat in major producing centres of Punjab and Haryana, the procurement has touched a record level of 35. 73 million tonnes. The happiness, however, is wiped out by the inadequate storage capacity of the government.

"Arrivals are still on in states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. We expect the procurement figure to cross 36 million tonnes," said a food ministry official.

The procurement so far is up by 7 million tonnes from the last year's total procurement. "It has crossed this year's target of 31.8 million tonnes. This record buying is due to record production of wheat this year. Moreover states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh announced bonus of Rs 100 per quintal to shift major chunk of wheat from private traders to central pool," the official added.

According to Food Corporation of India figures, FCI has procured over 93% of wheat arrived in the markets. "Out of 38 million tonnes of wheat hitting the markets so far, FCI has purchased 35.73 million tonnes leaving very little for the private companies," the official said.

However, the record production followed by record purchase is proving a big headache for food ministry grappling with storage problems. The storage capacity is just 63.5 million tonnes while the procurement is likely to touch 80 million tonnes by the end of this month.

"The government has been trying to create more storage space. But it can't happen overnight. We will go for rented storage space to accommodate this year's procurement. It's a wake up call for us," the official added.