FCI buys 45.65 mln tn of rice as of Wed, meets 92% of target for 2024-25
This story was originally published at 19:21 IST on 27 February 2025
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By Afra Abubacker
NEW DELHI – Food Corp. of India has purchased 45.65 million tonnes of rice as of Wednesday, meeting 92% of its procurement target for the kharif marketing season 2024-25 (Oct-Sept), as of Wednesday, an FCI official said. The rice purchases are 4.4% higher on year amid increased paddy production.
Due to high paddy production, FCI has scaled up its kharif rice procurement target to 49.56 million tonnes from 48.50 million tonnes earlier. "FCI will meet with Food Secretary (Sanjeev Chopra) to discuss rabi procurement targets for wheat and rice tomorrow (Friday)," the official said.
FCI has met its rice procurement targets for Chhattisgarh and Telangana at 7.0 million tonnes and 3.6 million tonnes, respectively. Though the agency has concluded paddy procurement in major states, it will continue procuring in other states till March, the official said. Paddy purchases are ongoing in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal, he added.
FCI concluded its kharif paddy procurement in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh this month, in Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Telangana, and Gujarat last month, and in Punjab and Haryana in November.
Bihar ended rice procurement operations meeting 87.6% of its target with 2.63 million tonnes, while Madhya Pradesh met 97.2% of its target at 2.91 million tonnes, FCI data showed. Uttarakhand bought 451,070 tonnes of rice, about 90% of its target, while Gujarat concluded purchases after meeting over 67% of the target at 23,504 tonnes, the data showed. Punjab and Haryana, respectively, bought 93.5% of the target at 11.6 million tonnes and 85% of the target at 3.6 million tonnes.
As of Feb. 1, rice stocks in the central pool were 34 million tonnes, the highest for a month in 12 years. The stock is much higher than the required buffer of 7.6 million tonnes, that is, operational stock of 5.6 million tonnes and strategic reserve of 2.0 million tonnes.
Despite allowing free rice exports, stocks remain at the highest level in a decade due to an increase in paddy production in the kharif season. To free up space, the FCI started to sell the grain twice a week under the open market sales scheme. But the offtake continues to be slow amid the availability of paddy from the new crop across the country.
FCI sold only 48.4%, or 121,000 tonnes of the 250,000 tonnes of rice offered last week, another FCI official said. Traders do not expect FCI to clear a substantial portion of its stock until the government reduces the reserve price to INR 2,500 per 100 kg from INR 2,800 in the open market sales scheme. End
Edited by Tanima Banerjee
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