Marking a 51 lakh tonnes year-on-year increase in wheat production till last week, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other state agencies procured 193.45 lakh tones, as against the 142 lakh tonnes during the year-before rabi marketing season.

The procurement of wheat by FCI started from mid-March this year, and will continue till June. The corporation is looking at an estimated total procurement of 244 lakh tonnes in the 2009-10 season; thereby surpassing the earlier year record figures of 226.89 lakh tonnes.

With the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat being increased by the Centre by Rs 80 per quintal to Rs 1,080 per quintal, the anticipated procurement will be higher. In addition, the production of wheat will also be good this year, though it is expected to drop slightly to 77.78 million tones from the last year record of 78.57 million tonnes.

However, the procurement pace has slowed down notably this time - with purchases of 1.55 lakh tones per day, compared to last year's 4.25 lakh tonnes.

Commenting on the slow pace, trade sources said: "This time, there has been a lot of early harvests, as a result of which much of the wheat has already been marketed. What little procurement remains would mainly be from Uttar Pradesh," which already accounts for a chunk of daily purchases, with 83,213 tonnes.