Wheat procurement this season has exceeded the 30 million tonne (mt) mark and is heading towards the target of 34.5 mt. For the first time this year, overall purchase has recorded higher volumes than the year-ago level after continuously trailing for the last 40 days since the season began on April 1.
The Centre has procured 30.15 mt of wheat until May 12, 2026, up 3 per cent from 29.17 mt in the year-ago period (3 per cent down until May 7). Officials said the drop in Madhya Pradesh is likely to be covered in the next few days as the year-ago number is now constant while this year’s purchases will continue until June 30. The drop of 0.7 mt in Madhya Pradesh so far has been compensated by about 1.5 mt higher purchase in Haryana, officials said.
According to the latest data, procurement in Punjab reached 12.16 mt as against 11.79 mt year-ago, up by 3 per cent. The Centre has fixed a target to procure 12.2 mt wheat from Punjab in 2026-27, against 11.92 mt bought in 2025-26.
Notably, almost the entire quantity in the current year’s purchase in Punjab was under relaxed quality specifications due to widespread lustre loss in several districts following unseasonal rains and hailstorms.
In Haryana, the Centre has purchased nearly 8.46 mt of wheat so far, exceeding the target of 7.2 mt, and is up by 20 per cent from 7.05 mt year-ago. In 2025-26, the Centre had bought 7.14 mt of wheat from Haryana.
There has been a substantial improvement in Madhya Pradesh this month as it has narrowed the fall from 59 per cent until April 30 to only 9 per cent as on May 12. Wheat procurement has reached 7.04 mt in the state until May 12, from 7.77 mt year-ago. The Centre has already raised the overall target in the state from 7.8 mt (fixed at the beginning of the season) to 10 mt in late April. In 2025-26, the Centre had procured 7.77 mt of wheat from Madhya Pradesh.
The purchase in Uttar Pradesh has reached 1.17 mt against 0.98 mt year-ago and in Rajasthan at 1.61 mt from 1.55 mt year-ago, the data show. In Bihar, procurement has reached 29,249 tonne, up by 76 per cent from 16,655 tonne year-ago. The Centre has also raised the purchase target in Uttar Pradesh from the earlier 1 mt to 2.5 mt, in Rajasthan from 2.1 mt to 2.35 mt and in Bihar from 18,000 tonne to 0.18 mt.
The all-India daily arrival on May 12 was 0.67 mt (against 0.13 mt year-ago), which is substantially lower from 1.08 mt on April 30 (against 0.82 mt year-ago). There has been a substantial drop in arrivals in all states except Madhya Pradesh where it was nearly 0.5 mt on May 12.
State procuring agencies have been asked to keep wheat procured under relaxed specifications (URS) category separately stored and accounted. Unseasonal rains in March and April led to higher moisture content in wheat grains, along with issues such as shrinkage and loss of lustre.