Wheat Procurement Touches 106.67 Lt

New Delhi: Wheat procurement by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and State agencies has reached 106.67 lakh tonnes (lt) during the current 2007-08 rabi marketing season (April-June) as on June 3. Of the 106.67 lt secured for the Central pool, Punjab has contributed 65.55 lt, followed by Haryana (33.26 lt), Uttar Pradesh (3.85 lt), Rajasthan (3.49 lt), Madhya Pradesh (49,825 tonnes), Uttaranchal (1,619 tonnes), Bihar (980 tonnes) and Delhi (834 tonnes). In addition, Punjab has bought 6.04 lt on its own account for a separate Atta Dal scheme introduced by the Parkash Singh Badal Government.
Over the last couple of weeks, Government agencies have managed to buy almost 10 lt of additional wheat, most of this a result of the floating of an import tender by the State Trading Corporation (STC). With the agencies still managing to procure 80,000-90,000 tonnes on a daily basis, there is every likelihood of total purchases crossing 115 lt by the end of the season. With opening stocks of 45.63 lt as on April 1 and hoped procurement of 115 lt, there would be about 160 lt of wheat in the Central pool. Assuming a monthly offtake of 10 lt, there would be 40 lt of opening stocks for the next season, which meets the minimum buffer norm for that date. But the Government may still go ahead with import of about 20 lt just to play it safe.