The government has procured 16.51 million tonnes of rice so far in the current 2018-19 marketing year and the total quantity is likely to surpass the target. The rice procurement target set for this year was 37 million tonnes. The government had procured 38.18 million tonnes during the last marketing year (October-September), exceeding the target of 37.5 million tonnes set for that year. Both state agencies and Food Corporation of India (FCI) have procured about 16.51 million tonnes of rice so far. The procurement definitely will exceed the target this year too. There will not be any impact on procurement, though crop in Punjab, Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh has been affected by deficient rain during September-end.

As per the latest data, rice procurement in Punjab reached 10.86 million tonnes, Haryana at 3.88 million tonnes, Telangana at 9,96,779 tonnes, Chhattishgarh at 3,02,319 tonnes and Uttrakhand at 1,71,098 tonnes so far this marketing year.

Tamil Nadu has procured 1,10,771 tonnes of rice, while in case of Kerala it stood at 49,813 tonnes and Maharashtra at 17,880 tonnes