Why are pvt traders lifting wheat in Punjab?

Punjab has crossed the 100-lakh metric tonne mark in wheat procurement, with various procurement agencies purchasing 104.71 LMT of the produce till Monday evening.

This year’s wheat procurement stands out for seeing an unprecedented participation of private players in purchase, buying over 8 per cent of the wheat till date. On the flip side, the wheat procurement season has been marred by tardy lifting, shortage of labour in mandis, forcing commission agents to offer higher than the announced labour charges, shortage of trucks to ferry the packed wheat from the mandis to the designated storage areas, where it will be stored till it is needed for the public distribution schemes.

This year, the procurement season too has been relatively short, with most wheat arriving in mandis only after Baisakhi, and the season expected to end by this week. The Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is also expected to visit the state this week.

….Highest-ever private purchase

Till date, 106.85 LMT of wheat has arrived in the mandis, of which 104.71 LMT has been procured by the state procurement agencies and the FCI. The private traders have purchased 8.66 LMT of wheat, which is the highest-ever. Previously, wheat purchase has not exceeded 3 per cent of the total purchase. Raj Sood, a prominent commission agent in Khanna, the largest grain market in Asia, said flour mill owners in Punjab were mainly buying the wheat for their own use. Some commission agents and farmers too are stocking up wheat, to be sold in the open market at a premium price later. While government agencies are procuring the grains at Rs 2,425 per quintal, the private traders are paying anything between Rs 2,440-Rs 2,640 per quintal. As a result, the government will procure much lesser wheat than its original target of 124 LMT.

…Tardy lifting

The lifting of wheat this season has been tardy. Of the 106.85 LMT of wheat that has arrived in the mandis till date, only 47.19 LMT has been lifted, leading to a glut in mandis. While the glut is on account of huge daily arrivals of wheat in mandis, exceeding 10 LMT per day on most days last week, the lifting is also slow because of the shortage of labour. In Rajpura, Mahinder Krishan Chand Arora, said this year, the labour arriving in mandis was much less as compared to previous years. “We are paying them Rs 2 per bag over and above the government fixed rate for labour,” he said. Food and Supply Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak said the lifting was improving. In a single day, we lifted over 5 LMT of wheat on Sunday, he said.

…Transportation woes in mandis

Across various mandis in the state, commission agents and farmers are complaining of tenders for the transportation of grains being allotted to contractors having political links, but not having sufficient vehicles. “This is leading to problems in the lifting of grains. In the Malwa region, the commission agents are complaining of those who got the transport contracts not having enough trucks and some even demanding premium from them to provide trucks on a priority basis,” alleged Congress leader Hans Raj Josan.

Punjab