Stock of 574.57 lakh tonnes of food grains in the central pool on September 1

10-Sep-2024 06:48 PM

New Delhi. Official figures show that on September 1, 2024, a total stock of 574.57 lakh tonnes of food grains was present in the central pool, including 323.11 lakh tonnes of rice and 251.46 lakh tonnes of wheat, which was less than the stock of 595.22 lakh tonnes available on August 1, 2024,

but more than the stock of 493.25 lakh tonnes present on September 1, 2023. Compared to last year, this time a huge increase is being seen in the stock of rice in the beginning of September, but the stock of wheat has decreased somewhat. Similarly, the stock of paddy has also declined.

There is no problem of paddy-rice stock. On 1 September 2024, along with 323.11 lakh tonnes of rice, there was also a stock of 148.22 lakh tonnes of paddy, while from next month i.e.

October, the arrival of new goods of Kharif paddy will start and after that the stock of rice will also increase gradually. Government procurement of paddy will continue till March 2025 and after that the purchase of Rabi paddy will start.

But the case of wheat seems to be a bit complicated. There was a stock of 251.46 lakh tonnes of wheat in government warehouses at the beginning of September 2024, while its sowing will start in October-November and its new goods will start coming in April next year.

What is meant to say is that the new crop is still six-seven months away, while the situation of supply and availability in the domestic division remains complicated. If the sale of wheat from government stock under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) is started in full swing,

then its stock in the central pool will continuously shrink because the government has to distribute a large quantity of wheat for many other schemes including the National Food Security Act. On September 1, the government also had a stock of 3.66 lakh tonnes of coarse grains available.