Riding on bumper output and handsome procurement price, the government’s rice purchase in the ongoing Kharif marketing season (October-September) is up by about 25 per cent over last year’s corresponding purchase. Procurement as on December 2 stood at 11.54 million tonnes (MT).
Of the quantities procured, about 8.09 MT have come from Punjab (versus last year’s corresponding figure of 6.95 MT), 1.28 MT from Haryana (1.42 MT last year), 659,977 tonnes from Uttar Pradesh (263,100 tonnes last year), 543,210 tonnes from Andhra Pradesh (137,397 tonnes last year) and 388,325 tonnes from Chattisgarh (220,545 tonnes last year). Procurement is up significantly in all states except Haryana.
With a ban in place on export of non-basmati rice, the interest of exporters is negligible. The government had imposed this ban in March 2008 as part of its inflation control measures. Non-basmati rice export stood at 3.7 MT in 2006-07.
“We have estimated this year’s rice procurement at 28.2 MT. However, going by the current pace we are likely to achieve a new record this year as well”, said an official at Food Corporation of India.
He added that the low purchase in Haryana has come on account of a shift by some farmers to superior rice varieties, including basmati.
| Government rice procurement (tonnes) | |||
| State | Dec 2, 2007 | Dec 2, 2008 | % change |
| Punjab | 69,50,922 | 80,94,823 | 16.45 |
| Haryana | 14,23,252 | 12,88,655 | -9.45 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 2,63,100 | 6,59,977 | 150.84 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 1,37,397 | 5,43,210 | 295.35 |
| Chattisgarh | 2,20,545 | 3,88,325 | 76.00 |
| Source: Food Corporation of India | |||
The total rice procurement in 2007-08 season had touched a record of 28.5 MT. Rice production in the Kharif 2008-09 is projected at a record 83.25 MT.
The government has set a procurement price of Rs 930 a quintal for Grade A variety of paddy and Rs 900 a quintal for the common variety for the current season. Both these prices are an increase of 20 per cent over previous season.