Sufficient foodgrains in stock under Central Pool

The Government of India has sufficient foodgrains in stock under the Central Pool to meet the requirement of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and its other welfare schemes as well as for the additional allocation of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).

About 159 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of wheat and 104 LMT of rice will be available as on 1 January 2023. This is well above the buffer norms requirements of 138 LMT of wheat and 76 LMT of rice on January 1. As on 15 December 2022, around 180 LMT of wheat and 111 LMT of rice were available in the Central Pool.

Buffer norms requirements have been envisaged for particular dates of the year as on the 1st of April, the 1st of July, the 1st of October and the 1st of January. The stock positions of wheat and rice in the Central Pool have always remained well above the buffer norms.

Around 227 LMT of wheat and 205 LMT of rice were available as on 1 October 2022 against the respective buffer norms requirements of 205 LMT and 103 LMT on October 1.

Though the procurement of wheat during the last season was on the lower side due to lesser production coupled with selling by farmers at prices higher than the Minimum Support Price (MSP) in the open market consequent to the geopolitical situation, enough stock of wheat will be available in the Central Pool to cater to the needs of the country till the time the next wheat crop arrives.

Further, the allocations under NFSA as well as PMGKAY have also been revised in favour of rice to have sufficient wheat in stock in the Central Pool to cater to the requirements of the welfare schemes. The Government of India has thereby ensured that sufficient stocks of foodgrains are available in the Central Pool to meet the requirements for all the welfare schemes across the country and prices remain under control.

The Centre recently enhanced the MSP of wheat this year to Rs 2125/quintal (qtl) against the last year's MSP of Rs 2015/qtl. Thus, with the increase in MSP of Rs 110/qtl coupled with fairly good climatic conditions, it is expected that the production and procurement of wheat during the next season shall remain normal.

The procurement of wheat next season would commence from April 2023 and, as per initial assessment, there has been a fair increase in the sowing of the wheat crop as compared to last year.

In May this year, the government banned exports of wheat to boost domestic supplies and control prices. Wheat procurement by state-owned FCI fell to 187.92 lakh tonnes in 2022-23 marketing year from 434.44 lakh tonnes due to a fall in domestic output and aggressive purchases by private parties.