The market price of wheat is expected to remain strong in future as well.

18-Jun-2024 02:31 PM

New Delhi. Although the current Rabi marketing season will continue till June 30, 2024, the actual procurement process of wheat is almost over.

The total procurement of wheat is estimated to be around 265-266 lakh tonnes this time, which is 3-4 lakh tonnes more than last year's procurement of 262 lakh tonnes.

The Food Ministry had set a target of procuring 373 lakh tonnes of wheat, while the actual procurement fell short by 107-108 lakh tonnes.

At the beginning of the last marketing season, there was a good stock of wheat in the central pool, but this time it was reduced to around 75 lakh tonnes, which was almost equal to the minimum mandatory buffer stock.

The Union Agriculture Ministry has estimated the production of more than 1129 lakh tonnes of wheat in the Rabi season of 2023-24, which is an all-time high. Despite this, the procurement could increase by only 3-4 lakh tonnes.

Flour millers-processors and traders also do not have a huge stock of wheat, that is why they are repeatedly demanding the government to allow its duty-free import.

It would also be wrong to believe that the remaining 8.00-8.50 crore tonnes of wheat stock is with the farmers. There is a limited arrival of wheat in the markets.

It was expected that like last year, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) will start weekly e-auction of wheat under the open market sale scheme from June this year too,

but no indication has been given so far. On the other hand, the government has also ruled out the possibility of removing the 40 percent import duty on wheat. Due to all these reasons, it seems that the price of wheat will remain strong in the near future.