The Centre has moved out 40 lakh metric tonne rice from godowns in Punjab, still not enough to accommodate the entire wheat expected to arrive in state’s grain markets in coming days. The procurement of wheat is set to pick…

Ruchika Khanna/ Tribune News Service

The Centre has moved out 40 lakh metric tonne rice from godowns in Punjab, still not enough to accommodate the entire wheat expected to arrive in state’s grain markets in coming days.

The procurement of wheat is set to pick up from next week, with 124 lakh metric tonne (LMT) of it expected to arrive during the rabi procurement season.

This year, around 70 LMT of wheat will be stored in the open, in what is called the covered and plinth (CAP) storage. State agencies are also facing a shortfall in wooden crates needed for the storage of wheat.

Meanwhile, work is yet to start on building 31 LMT of storage space in the state. According to officials, the entire storage space will be ready only later this year.

Currently, there is the same storage space for grains as last year — 140 LMT with the Food Corporation of India and 35 LMT with state government-owned food procurement agencies.

“As of date, 136 LMT rice (from 2023 and 2024 procurement seasons) is still lying in these godowns. Another 10 LMT of rice will be shifted out of the state within this month, as 20 trains are transporting rice to the recipient states daily,” FCI Punjab region general manager B Srinivasan told The Tribune.

“With exports being allowed and rice being open for sale to ethanol distilleries, the movement of rice from the state has been increasing. As much as 39.42 LMT of rice and 40.59 LMT of previous years’ wheat have already been moved out and we have taken delivery of 65 LMT of rice from millers,” he added.

He said by April-end, the godowns will be left with 126 LMT of rice, leaving space to accommodate 35 LMT of space for storing wheat.

“The remaining space enough to accommodate 14 LMT of produce will be utilised for storing rice delivered by millers. It is because of this shortage of storage space that the delivery of rice will stretch till July. Ideally, the entire rice milled from paddy is delivered by the millers by March-end,” he said.

With 70 LMT of wheat under CAP storage and 35 LMT of wheat in godowns, the government has planned to lift remaining 20 LMT of wheat directly from grain markets and send it to the other recipient states.

The state government is scrambling to find vacant space to store wheat, including using a now-closed sugar mill at Sheron in Tarn Taran.

“We are now going ahead with creating another 15 LMT of storage space, over and above the 31 LMT approved last year,” said Srinivasan.

Over 2,000 MT wheat arrives in mandis

Till date, 2,035 metric tonne (MT) wheat has arrived in grain markets of Punjab, of which 1,351 MT has been purchased so far. While 936 MT has been purchased by the state government, 415 MT has been purchased by private traders.

Published Date: April 10, 2025