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Informist, Saturday, May 9, 2026

 

By Afra Abubacker

 

NEW DELHI - The government's ongoing wheat procurement in the 2026-27 rabi marketing season has nearly caught up with last year's levels amid strong purchases in Punjab and Haryana. However, a lion's share of wheat procured in these two states was of sub-par quality, as widespread weather-related disruptions damaged crops. 

 

As of Thursday, government agencies procured 27.67 million tonnes, down 3% on year, Food Corp. of India data showed. However, the gap with last year's procurement on the corresponding date has sharply narrowed from 13% in late April. 

 

Though the government has achieved 80% of its procurement target as of Thursday, over 78% or 22 million tonnes of wheat were purchased under relaxed quality specifications, indicating widespread crop damage caused by unseasonal rains and hailstorms in March.

 

Under the relaxed quality norms, farmers can sell wheat with up to 15% shrivelled and broken grains, compared with the earlier limit of 6%. The permissible limit for loss of lustre has also been relaxed up to 50%. A government official earlier said that these quality relaxations were unlikely to materially affect the nutritional value of wheat, but could reduce the shelf life.

 

As of Thursday, wheat procurement in Haryana was 15% higher than a year ago, but the entire 8.0 million tonnes was procured under relaxed quality norms. In Punjab, procurement rose nearly 5% on year to 12.1 million tonnes. However, less than 0.1% of it met fair-average quality standards, FCI data showed. Uttar Pradesh's wheat purchases were up 6% on year at 975,368 tonnes. Of this, over 44% was under relaxed quality norms.

 

Wheat procurement remained lower year-on-year in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Procurement in Madhya Pradesh was down nearly 33% on year amid late harvesting, but the entire 5.2 million tonnes met fair-average quality norms. In Rajasthan, wheat purchases were down 3.4% on year at 1.4 million tonnes, of which 93% was bought under relaxed quality norms.

 

As of Thursday, farmers across the country had brought to mandis about 31.95 million tonnes of wheat. Of this, government agencies bought nearly 87% or 27.67 million tonnes, indicating strong government presence in the market.

 

The government aims to procure 34.50 million tonnes in the 2026-27 rabi marketing season by the end of June. The government procures food grains to maintain buffer stocks, feed 800 million people through welfare programmes, and check the rise in retail prices through open market sales.

 

Following is the state-wise progressive wheat procurement as of Thursday compared with the year-ago period and the percentage difference: 

 

States	Target (in mln tn)	2026-27 (in tonnes)	2025-26 (in     tonnes)	% chng
Punjab	12.20	12,067,040	11,526,812	4.7
Haryana	7.20	7,998,924	6,956,988	14.9
Madhya Pradesh	10.00	5,203,740	7,719,896	-32.6
Rajasthan	2.35	1,350,643	1,398,888	-3.4
Uttar Pradesh	2.50	975,368	919,659	6.1
Total*	34.50	27,666,850	28,553,445	-3.1

 

* The total does not tally due to the omission of smaller states.  

 

End

 

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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