Punjab exceeds wheat procurement target

Punjab crossed its target of procuring 124 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of wheat on Tuesday. The state has so far procured 124.33 LMT, while 125.22 LMT of the crop arrived in the mandis, leaving a stock of just 88,251 MT in the grain markets.

Punjab had set a target of 124 LMT, but made preparations for procuring up to 132 LMT.

With inclement weather conditions still persisting, the slow lifting process increased the woes of procurement agencies and the farmers, even as lifting picked up pace in the last few days.

Of the 124.33 LMT, 75.63 LMT was lifted from the grain markets, which is a little over 60% of the total purchases; the state and the central agency – FCI – purchased 114.30 LMT, while private traders purchased 10.03 LMT. Last year, until May 6, only 6.76 LMT was purchased by the traders.

On Tuesday, 1.26 LMT of wheat arrived in mandis, while 1.45 LMT was procured, out of which govt agencies purchased 1.28 LMT and traders purchased 17,336 MT. Also, a total of 4.34 LMT of purchased wheat was lifted from the mandis on Tuesday.

Compared to the previous year, the purchases this season until May 6 are more. Against purchases of 124.33 LMT in the ongoing season, it was 123.06 LMT during the corresponding period last season.

This article has been republished from The Times of India.