Wheat procurement crosses 29 MT, highest in four years

By Sandip Das

The government’s wheat procurement by agencies—Food Corporation of India (FCI) and various state procurement bodies—for the 2025–26 rabi marketing season (April–June) has crossed 29 million tonne (MT), highest since the 2021-22 season.

The quantity of wheat purchased from farmers in key producing states so far is 16% higher than during the same period last year. This procurement is against total mandi arrivals of 37.48 MT across the country.

Officials said the government remains confident of meeting its target of 33 MT for the current season, supported by bumper production prospects of over 115 MT for the 2024–25 crop year (July–June).

This augurs well as the government will have sufficient grain for distribution through a public distribution system and carry out a market intervention programme under In comparison, wheat procurement stood at 26.6 MT in 2024–25 season and 26.2 MT in 2023–24 season. After achieving a record procurement of 43.3 MT in 2021–22 season, purchases dropped to a low of 18.8 MT in 2022–23 season due to a decline in output. For the past three years, wheat procurement under minimum support price (MSP) operations has consistently fallen short of the target.

So far, five states which have contributed mostly to the wheat procurement drive – Punjab (11.71 MT), Madhya Pradesh (7.77 MT), Haryana (7.03 MT), , Rajasthan (1.49 MT) and Uttar Pradesh (0.96 MT).

Procurement operations in Madhya Pradesh, the second-largest contributor to the central wheat stock, have been completed for the season.

However, Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest wheat-producing state, has recorded sluggish procurement, with just 0.96 MT purchased so far—well below the season’s target of 3 MT. This is despite an unofficial restriction on providing railway rakes to private traders to transport wheat out of the state.

Officials told FE that the government will consider additional allocations of wheat to states under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, given the comfortable stock position.

This article has been republished from The Financial Express.