Bathinda: With over 90% of Punjab's estimated wheat crop having reached purchase centres by Wednesday evening, the procurement season is nearing its end. A total of 3.49 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of wheat arrived in mandis on Wednesday, taking total arrivals to 110.7 lakh MT against the target of 122 lakh MT.
Of this, 108.25 lakh MT had been procured by evening, including 3.95 lakh MT bought during the day. Unsold stock in mandis stood at 2.5 lakh MT. Procurement against arrivals was 97.7% on Wednesday.
However, trader procurement declined sharply, with traders buying only 98.2k MT, or 0.90% of total purchases, compared with 7.92% of total market arrivals till April 28 last year.
The Food Corporation of India purchased 2.1 lakh MT, accounting for 1.95% of total procurement. As purchases exceeded arrivals, the wheat backlog in mandis declined further on Wednesday.
Even as over 97% of arrivals have been purchased, the lifting of grains is still lagging at nearly 44.6%. Only 48.4 lakh MT of wheat has been lifted from the mandis so far, with 4.7 lakh MT lifted on Wednesday.
Sangrur continued to lead the state in wheat arrivals, with 8.65 lakh MT reaching its mandis by the evening of April 29, followed by neighbouring Patiala with 8.53 lakh MT. Bathinda also recorded over 8 lakh MT arrivals at 8.29 lakh MT.
