CHANDIGARH: As Russia and Ukraine account for nearly 40 per cent of the global wheat supply, the ongoing war has disrupted that supply. This has resulted in an increase in demand for wheat from India.
Being the largest wheat producing state in the country, already over one lakh tonnes of wheat have been purchased by private players from grain markets across the state in just two weeks and that too above the Minimum Support Price (MSP). The government expects that it will cross the five lakh MT mark the highest ever in the last ten years.
As per the data with the state food and civil supplies department till Thursday evening 1,33,370 MT have been purchased by private traders and today itself 33,733 MT was purchased by traders. As of date the highest purchase of wheat by private traders is in Sangrur the home district of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, at 45,851 metric tonnes followed by Ludhiana 26,836 MT, Patiala 19,388 MT and then 10,955 MT in Faridkot. At the rate of Rs 2,50 per quintal higher than the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 2,015 on which government agencies procure wheat from farmers.
Sources said that as per the data from the state government in the last season 1.17 lakh metric tonnes of wheat was purchased by private players and in 2020 only 56,000 MT. While the highest purchase by private players stood at 2.9 lakh metric tonnes in 2014.
A senior officer of the state food and civil supplies department said, "we have never ever seen this kind of purchase of wheat by the private players from the grain markets of the state in the procurement season. As generally, they procure between one to little more than two lakh tonnes. But this time it is the highest ever in the last ten years as we estimate that by the end of the procurement season the private players are likely to procure around 5 lakh tonnes of wheat from the state. As earlier when the MSP was not increased annually then private players used to procure around 6 to 7 lakh tonnes of wheat per year from the state. After MSP being increased every year procurement by private players is very little. But this year it will be higher than before due to the Russia and Ukraine crises.’’
The state food and civil supplies department has made arrangements for a total wheat purchase of 135 lakh tonnes.
Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal asked the AAP government to immediately announce a bonus of Rs 500 per quintal for farmers who were facing huge losses due to low wheat yields.