Wheat procurement drive by government agencies for the 2026-27 market season (April-June) has been sluggish so far, as Punjab and Haryana have reduced purshases due to unseasonal rains.
So far the wheat purchase at minimum support price (MSP) has reached 1.53 million tonne (MT) mostly in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, which is 70% lower than the year-ago period. The purchase from 0.18 million farmers is against the arrivals of 3.47 MT of wheat in mandis across key producing states so far.
A year ago over 9 MT of wheat had arrived in the various mandis of states including Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Officials attribute slow pace of grain purchase to late harvesting and several states asking for relaxation in procurement norms for grain impacted by recent unseasonal rains.
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“While the food ministry has relaxed grain procurement norms for Rajasthan for crop damaged from last month’s unseasonal rain and hailstorms, reports are awaited from Punjab and Haryana for similar concessions,” an official told FE.
Impact of Weather
Under the relaxed norms procurement of wheat up to 50% luster loss and increased the shriveled or broken grain limit from 6% to 15% has been approved for Rajasthan which would ensure that farmers receive MSP for affected crop
This season the purchase in Punjab, highest contributor to the central pool grain stock, has been rather slow with only 29,925 tonne of wheat purchase so far from only 482 farmers. Over 0.1 MT of grain has arrived in the markets across the state. Punjab contributed 12.2 MT to the central pool in the previous 2025-26 marketing season out of the total purchase of over 30 MT of wheat.
An official said while the food ministry is considering providing similar relaxation on wheat purchase to Punjab and Haryana, the fair and average quality of grain are being procured. The purchase has been sluggish mainly attributed to late harvesting of the crop due to higher moisture content due to rains just prior to harvesting of the crops.
Supply Outlook
The agencies are aiming to buy over 30 MT of wheat during 2026-27 marketing year from the farmers in key producing states – Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to bolster stock and ensure supplies under the public distribution system.
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At present, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has over 21.5 MT of wheat as the central pool stock against a buffer of 7.46 MT for April 1. The agriculture ministry has projected a record 120 MT of wheat output in 2025-2026 crop years (July-June), trade sources said that output is definitely higher than 117 MT in 2024-25 crop year.
The government has announced a MSP of Rs 2585/quintal for current marketing years.
TOPICSWheatThis article was first uploaded on April fifteen, twenty twenty-six, at thirty-three minutes past eleven in the night.