Rice millers and sellers are worried due to huge stock of rice in Punjab's godowns.

05-Oct-2024 01:37 PM

Chandigarh. In the marketing season 2023-24, about 124 lakh tonnes of rice was supplied by the rice millers of Punjab to the Food Corporation of India (FCI), out of which only 7 lakh tonnes of stock could be sent to other states so far, whereas a huge stock of 117 lakh tonnes is present there.

The concern of millers and sellers has increased because the Food Corporation will hesitate to accept the delivery of rice that will be produced after milling the paddy allotted for the 2024-25 season because it lacks storage facilities.

Millers will be forced to keep the stock of rice with them for a long time, which will create storage problems and also cause financial loss.

Last year, about 185 lakh tonnes of paddy was procured by the government in Punjab and it was allotted to more than 5000 rice millers for custom milling.

The millers expected that the total quantity of rice would be delivered by 31 March 2024, but the Food Corporation was not in a position to accept the entire stock of rice by this due date.

Instead, it asked the millers to supply rice in small quantities every month and also extended the delivery deadline to 30 September.

The new marketing season for paddy procurement has started in Punjab from 1 October and the rice millers feel that this time there may be more difficulty in delivering rice than last year.

As a result, they have decided to refuse to take the stock of the Food Corporation. The millers clearly say that the stock of paddy will be accepted only after the Food Corporation first empties its warehouses.

This has made the situation difficult. Soon there is going to be a huge inflow of paddy in Punjab and if it is not lifted on time, then there will be a pile of this important food grain in the mandis.