India: Wheat purchases by govt at 25.4 mn tonnes, 1.5% lower than last year

India has bought 25.4 million metric tons of new-season wheat from domestic farmers to shore up its depleted reserves, a 1.55% decline from last year, government sources said on Wednesday. Wheat purchases by the government-backed Food Corporation of India (FCI) got off to a slow start last month, but procurement picked up in recent weeks, said the sources who didn’t wish to be named as they are not authorised to talk to the media. Click here to follow our WhatsApp channel However, trade and industry officials say the world’s second-biggest wheat producer won’t be able to achieve its procurement target of 30-32 million tons. New Delhi had also failed to achieve its wheat procurement target in 2022 and 2023, as a sudden rise in temperatures clipped output. Lower output fanned domestic prices, prompting the FCI to sell a little more than 10 million tons, a record high, from its stocks to bulk buyers like flour millers and biscuit makers. Because of the record sales, wheat stocks at ...