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Informist, Wednesday, Aug 28, 2024

 

By Pallavi Singhal

 

NEW DELHI – The Food Corporation of India has run out of space to store the upcoming paddy produce in key states of Punjab and Haryana as the granaries are full to the brim with rice procured in the previous years, according to millers. Millers in Punjab have even refused to participate in rice shelling for the kharif paddy season, which will begin in October, according to Punjab Rice Millers Association President Tarsem Saini.

 

The rice mills process raw rice into white rice to make it ready for human consumption. The rice, procured by the government agencies from the market, is allotted to millers to be processed and then reaches the Central warehouses.

 

"There is no space to store the next crop of paddy in both Punjab and Haryana. In fact, this is a national problem right now with states of Odisha and Chhattisgarh also running out of storage space due to huge carry-over stocks of last year," Saini said. "If we buy more, where will it go?"

 

Rice stocks with the Centre as of Aug 1 were the highest since 2005 at 32.8 mln tn. Rice stocks have risen nearly 35% on year and are far above the Jul-Sep buffer norm of 13.5 mln tn – operational stock of 11.5 mln tn and strategic reserve of 2 mln tn. In addition to the rice, the FCI has another 19.00 mln tn of unmilled paddy.

 

As per Food Corporation of India data, as much as 15.5 mln tn of paddy was stored in Haryana and Punjab alone as of Aug 1. "The granaries are full to the brink. The millers themselves have somewhere around 700,000 tn of paddy still lying with them in the two states (Punjab and Haryana) together," Saini said.

 

With the arrival of the next paddy crop, which is expected within a month, there will be uncertainty for both farmers and traders. "The matter is being discussed among the Arthtiyas (middlemen) but there is no solution to it. We are awaiting government directions on it. Paddy once brought to the mandi needs to be bought and transported to safe storage spaces, it cannot be left in the open," Naresh Mittal, a trader from Haryana’s Patiala said.

 

The industry blames the government’s high procurement last year and the ban on exports for high stocks. Paddy procurement during the 2023-24 kharif marketing season exceeded 77.5 mln tn. "The government procurement stood at least 15 mln tn higher than the requirement last year along with so many curbs on rice exports. This has led to last year’s stocks lying with the rice millers and another bumper crop is just 30 days away," Vijay Setia, former president of All India Rice Exporters Association, said.

 

The area under rice, one of the most important kharif crops, rose 4% on year to 39.4 mln ha as of Tuesday. Progress in the sowing of paddy and the current rice stocks with the Centre has led the government to allow grain-deficient states to buy rice from the Food Corp of India through open market sales, without participating in electronic auctions. However, export restrictions have continued.  End

 

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

 

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