New Delhi, April 24 Wheat is selling below minimum support price (MSP) in the national Capital.
On Friday, wheat dara (loose) was being quoted at Rs 1,058-1,070 a quintal in Lawrence Road, while ruling even lower at Rs 1,040-1,050 and Rs 1,020-1,030 in Delhi’s other two major grain markets at Narela and Najafgarh, respectively.
This is against the MSP of Rs 1,080 a quintal fixed by the Centre for the wheat crop being marketed in the current 2009-10 season (April-June).
The gap between the MSP and open market prices is even more in Uttar Pradesh (UP), where wheat is now fetching Rs 930-940 a quintal in Shahjahanpur and Hardoi and Rs 980-1,020 in mandis closer to Delhi, such as Mathura, Agra, Etah and Mainpuri.
“We are seeing a virtual free market in Delhi and much of UP. Government agencies have not bought a single grain in Delhi. In UP, they have so far purchased 4.79 lakh tonnes (lt), but procurement will end up nowhere near last year’s 31.37 lt level. Bulk of the State’s wheat is going to flour mills in the South and the rest of the country,” according to market sources.
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other Government agencies are concentrating their procurement operations mainly in Punjab and Haryana, where farmers are a more organised lobby.
“Unlike in UP or Bihar, there is an established governmental purchase machinery in these two States, which nobody can dismantle. There is no question of farmers there receiving a price below the MSP,” the sources pointed out.Heading to Haryana
The resulting dichotomy is, nevertheless, creating distortions of a different kind. A lot of wheat grown in the border areas of UP is, for example, finding its way to the neighbouring mandis of Haryana.
“Farmers from the Kosi Kalan-Mathura belt of UP are taking their wheat to the Palwal, Hodal and Nuh markets in Haryana.
A similar movement is happening from Meerut and Baghpat to Sonepat, from Muzaffarnagar to Panipat and Karnal, and from Saharanpur to Yamunanagar and Jagadhri,” the sources informed.
Even wheat being traded in Delhi is said to be eventually heading to Haryana.
“It makes sound business sense. I can buy wheat here at Rs 1,030 a quintal, incur transport and mandi charges of about Rs 13 and still make money by selling at the MSP in Haryana,” they noted.
All this is finally reflected in the official procurement figures from Haryana.
As on Friday, the FCI and State agencies had purchased 57.34 lt of wheat from the State, which is more than the 52.37 lt bought in the entire 2008-09 marketing season. Procurement
“Given the rate at which wheat is coming from UP and Delhi, total procurement in Haryana is definitely going to surpass the record 64.07 lt achieved in 2001-02. We won’t be surprised if it even crosses 70 lt,” the sources said.
Meanwhile, progressive all-India wheat procurement for the 2008-09 rabi marketing season stood at 165.41 lt as on Friday, as against 95.39 lt mopped-up during the corresponding period of the preceding season.
Of the total 165.41 lt, Punjab accounted for 86.68 lt, followed by Haryana (57.34), Madhya Pradesh (9.88), Rajasthan (5.97) and Uttar Pradesh (4.79).
The 2008-09 season had witnessed an all-time-high aggregate wheat procurement of 226.89 lt, including 99.41 lt from Punjab, 52.37 lt from Haryana, 31.37 lt from UP, 24.10 lt from Madhya Pradesh, 9.35 lt from Rajasthan, 5 lt from Bihar and 4.15 lt from Gujarat.
“This time, procurement will be higher in Punjab and Haryana, but will fall short substantially in the other States. So, on the whole, total buys may just about touch 200 lt,” they added. (Hindu)
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