Central pool of wheat trickles down to 154.44 lakh metric tonnes, lowest since 2018

Karam Prakash 

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New Delhi, March 30

Wheat stock in the central pool stood at 154.44 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) on February 1 this year, which is the lowest since 2018—when the figure was 175.47 LMT.

Last year, the wheat stock in the central pool on February 1 was 282.73 LMT. The wheat stock in the central pool, therefore, declined by 128.29 LMT in a year.

This was informed by the Minister of State for Rural Development and Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

According to the minister, the wheat stock in 2021 touched 3,018.31 LMT on February 1.

A prolonged heat wave in March last year lowered India’s wheat output for 2022-23 to 106 million tonnes from 109 million tonnes in the previous year. Besides, farmers sold their produce to private players instead of to the Centre. Consequently, wheat purchases by the government declined to 18.79 million tonnes during 2022-23, compared to 44 million tonnes purchased the year before.

However, it is still higher than the government’s buffer stock norms. As per these norms, the operational stock of wheat should be 44.6 LMT as on April 1; 245.8 LMT as on July 1; 175.2 LMT as on October 1; and 108 LMT as on January 1. In addition to this, a strategic reserve of 30 LMT is required to be maintained on all these four dates.

When asked about the steps to increase the wheat stock, Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said, “MSP for wheat has been increased by Rs 110 per quintal this year. Besides, the Union government has fixed an estimate of 341.50 LMT of wheat procurement for this season.”