Rice stocks 4 times the buffer at 57 MT
By Sandip Das
The rice stocks held with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) currently is more than four times the buffer for April 1, despite a 7.5% fall in procurement in the current season (October-September) compared to the same period last season.
Currently, FCI holds 57.2 million tonne — 27.2 MT of rice stocks and close to 30 MT of grain receivable from millers. The stock is against the buffer of 13.58 MT for April 1.
The FCI requires around 36 MT of rice annually to distribute to 800 million beneficiaries of under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyana Anna Yojana (PMGKAY)
A year ago, rice stock held with FCI was lower at 21 MT, as FCI has supplied additional grain free to the beneficiaries under PMGKAY.
“We have sufficient quantities of rice for distribution under PDS as well as carrying out open market sale of grain,” an official said.
The paddy procurement by the government agencies has crossed 65.77 MT (53.42 MT in terms of rice) in the current season (October-September) so far which is 7.5% lower than the same period in the last fiscal. In addition the rabi paddy procurement under the minimum support price (MSP) operations will be commencing shortly.
The government had purchased a total of 56.87 MT of rice in the 2022-23 season.
In Punjab and Haryana, where the procurement of paddy has been completed, total purchase from farmers have been 18.54 MT and 5.88 MT respectively which is higher than previous year.
Paddy procurement is ongoing in several other states, including Odisha (5.74 MT), Telangana (4.73 MT), Bihar (2.34 MT), Andhra Pradesh (1.99 MT) and West Bengal (1.08 MT), a significant contributor to central pool stocks.
After paddy is procured from the farmers by FCI and state agencies, it is handed over to millers for conversion into rice. Paddy to rice conversion ratio is 67%.
As per the second advance estimate of foodgrains production, rice output is projected to decline 123.8 MT from 125 MT in the previouS crops year because of patchy monsoon rains last season.
However, this projection of rice output does not include summer crop output, which will be reflected in the third advance estimate of foodgrians production to be released in June.
Meanwhile, the wheat stock held with FCI has plummeted to 9 MT at present, lowest since 2016.
Lower stock with FCI is because of aggressive offloading of a record 9.4 MT of wheat in the open market to curb rise in prices. The procurement of wheat is expected commence from the last week of current month in key producing states such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh,
While the MSP operations in Punjab and Haryana for wheat will officially commence on April 1.
The government has estimated an initial procurement target for the 2024-25 marketing season (April-June) to be around 30 – 32 MT against 26.2 mt purchased from the farmers under MSP operations.
This article has been republished from The Financial Express.