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Informist, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025

 

By Afra Abubacker

 

NEW DELHI - Despite key states starting rice purchases early this year, procurement of the grain has struggled to gain momentum in the 2025-26 kharif marketing season (Oct-Sept) due to lower purchases by Punjab. The Food Corp. of India and state agencies have only procured 1.49 million tonnes of rice as of Monday, accounting for 3.2% of the 46.35 million tonnes target for the 2025-26 season, FCI data showed. 

 

Tamil Nadu advanced procurement operations this season by a month and Punjab by a fortnight, against the typical start of Oct. 1. As a result, paddy procurement has been going on for more than a month in the southern state and nearly a month in the latter. However, incessant rains and high moisture levels in freshly harvested paddy have slowed buying operations in Punjab, the top contributor to the central stock pool.  

 

Punjab, which began procurement on Sept. 15, has procured 479,000 tonnes of rice, only 4.1% of its target of 11.6 million tonnes for the season, FCI data showed.

 

"Paddy arrivals have been very slow in the market because of incessant rains," Dinam Sood, a Punjab-based trader, said. "The entire crop is gone in areas affected by floods. In non-affected areas, some 15–20% is damaged due to lower yields and stunted growth amid diseases. The crop stem did not grow tall." Sood added that some market estimates suggest crop losses could be as high as 25–30%.

 

"The estimate of crop damage hasn't been officially received from the state government yet," an FCI official said. Initial estimates suggest paddy crops sown over 300,000 hectares was damaged due to the recent floods, Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian told Times of India late August.

 

Haryana, which started procurement on Oct. 1, has performed relatively better. As of Monday, the state has procured 660,410 tonnes of rice, accounting for 18.3% of its 3.6-million-tonne target. Tamil Nadu, which began its procurement drive on Sept. 1, has purchased 358,142 tonnes, or 22.4% of its target of 1.6 million tonnes for this season.

 

Currently, paddy procurement is ongoing in Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. While major paddy-growing states have started registering double-digit achievement against procurement targets, Punjab has achieved only a single-digit growth.

 

However, total rice procurement has risen more than five times to 1.49 million tonnes from 273,297 tonnes during the same period last year. The early start in Punjab and Tamil Nadu has contributed to this higher base, though the actual pace remains subdued.

 

Across Punjab, mandis have reported patchy arrivals of the grain with high-moisture content amid heavy rains and waterlogged fields. Sood said paddy arrivals are carrying 20–23% moisture content, compared with the permissible 17%. "This moisture-laden crop will have to be sun-dried either in the fields or by commission agents in mandis, which is a tedious process and will further delay procurement," he added.  End

 

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

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