Central Pool Grain Stocks Surpass Last Year’s Levels

23-Jul-2025 05:24 PM

New Delhi. On 1 July 2025, a total of 736.61 lakh tonnes of foodgrains were present in the central pool operated by Food Corporation of India (FCI), which included 377.83 lakh tonnes of rice and 358.78 lakh tonnes of wheat.

In comparison, on 1 July 2024, a total of 608.75 lakh tonnes of foodgrains were present in the central pool, which included 326.14 lakh tonnes of rice and 282.61 lakh tonnes of wheat.

Thus, 127.86 lakh tonnes more foodgrain stock was available on 1 July 2025 as compared to 1 July 2024. Under this, the stock of rice was 51.69 lakh tonnes and that of wheat was 76.17 lakh tonnes more.

But the stock of foodgrains decreased slightly in July 2025 as compared to June 2025. The stock of paddy in the Central Pool increased to 266.75 lakh tonnes on 1 July 2025 as compared to 237.09 lakh tonnes on 1 July 2024, but the stock of coarse grains decreased from 631 lakh tonnes to 5.15 lakh tonnes. In June 2025, the Central Pool had a stock of 322.55 lakh tonnes of paddy and 4.55 lakh tonnes of coarse grains.

According to the buffer rules, at least 135.40 lakh tonnes of rice and 275.80 lakh tonnes of wheat stock must be available in the Central Pool on 1 July. In comparison, this time on 1 July 2025, 242.43 lakh tonnes more rice and 82.98 lakh tonnes more wheat stock was present there.

These figures clearly show that the Central Pool has a much higher stock of rice and wheat than the minimum quantity prescribed under the buffer rules and hence the national food security situation remains strong.

During the marketing season of 2024-25, Food Corporation of India achieved good success in the procurement of rice and wheat. The procurement of rice was already going well but the performance of wheat procurement was weak.

Government procurement of wheat was 188 lakh tonnes in the year 2022, 262 lakh tonnes in 2023 and 266 lakh tonnes in 2024, but in 2025 it increased to 301 lakh tonnes.