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* The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation procured 864.7 tonnes of mustard as of Thursday, or 0.06% of the total 1.5 million tonnes it aims to buy during the 2024-25 (Jul-Jun) rabi season under the price support scheme. The agency started its procurement of the oilseed only in Assam and Haryana, according to the data released on Friday. The procurement agency has purchased 83 tonnes against the sanctioned quantity of 62,774 tonnes of mustard in Assam and 781.7 tonnes in Haryana, against the total approved quantity of 336,238 tonnes. The government has set the minimum support price of mustard at INR 5,950 per 100 kg for 2024-25 (Apr-Mar). Procurement of the oilseed is yet to begin in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh. The agency has procured 1,033 tonnes of rabi sunflower or 52.4% of the total 1,972 tonnes it aims to buy during the rabi season. The Centre has allowed procurement of sunflower seeds for rabi season only in Telangana. The procurement of safflower and that of groundnut grown during the rabi season is yet to begin, the data showed. Meanwhile, the agency procured 70.5% of the total 2.05 million tonnes or 1.4 million tonnes of the groundnut grown during the kharif season. While the procurement of the oilseed has remained unchanged from last week in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka, the agency has procured 438,488.5 tonnes in Rajasthan, up from 430,263.97 tonnes last week. The minimum support price of groundnut for 2024-25 (Oct-Sept) is INR 6,783 per 100 kg.The agency has procured 1.47 million tonnes of soybean, or 43.5% of the total sanctioned quantity of 3.38 million tonnes, so far. There was no progress in soybean procurement on a weekly basis. The Centre has set the minimum support price of soybean INR 4,892 per 100 kg for 2024-25 (Oct-Sept). There was also no progess in the procurement of sunflower seeds, which was grown during the kharif season of 2024-25. The agency had procured 3,272.4 tonnes of sunflower seeds from Karnataka, which is 25% of the total sanctioned quantity of 13,210 tonnes. The Centre has allowed procurement only in Karnataka, with a sanctioned quantity of 13,210 tonnes at a minimum support price of INR 7,280 per 100 kg. Meanwhile, the government had set the sesamum procurement period in Uttar Pradesh from Nov. 1 to Jan. 29 and aimed to procure 31,473 tonnes from the states. However, the agency has not begun procurement in the state. The agency is yet to begin procurement of the oilseed in Haryana as well, and the Centre aims to procure a total of 123 tonnes from the farmers in the state. The minimum support price for sesamum for this year is INR 9,267 per 100 kg.

* Sowing of rabi crops in Telangana was at 7.4 million acres (1 acre = 0.4 hectares) as of Wednesday, up 12.7% from 6.6 million acres sown in the same period last year, according to a report released by the state agriculture department. The normal acreage for the season in the state is 6.4 million acres, the report said. The acreage under maize rose by 27.6% on year to 823,939 acres from 645,600 acres last year, the report showed. The acreage under paddy also rose to 5.6 million acres from 5.0 million acres a year ago. The area sown under jowar was 287,067 acres, up from 227,826 acres last year. Rabi crops are sown between October and December after the monsoon, and harvested between February and May. However, sowing started late this year because of a delay in withdrawal of the southwest monsoon, which in turn delayed the harvest of kharif crops. Chana acreage in the state fell to 220,734 acres from 255,187 acres a year ago, according to the report. On the other hand, the acreage under black gram, or urad, was 47,571 acres, up from 35,551 acres last year. The total area sown under all pulses was 294,676 acres, down from 318,556 acres a year ago. The total area sown under all oilseeds so far was 298,400 acres, up from 271,538 acres sown in the previous year, the report showed. Under oilseeds, the acreage under groundnut rose to 243,143 acres from 208,791 acres a year ago. Tobacco acreage in the state so far rose to 17,403 acres from 9,902 acres last year, while that of sugarcane also rose to 14,102 acres from 4,525 acres in the corresponding period last year, according to the report. Paddy is in the 'grain formation' stage, while the harvest of groundnut, sunflower, urad, and chana has commenced and is in its peak stage, the report said. The water level in reservoirs across Telangana was 443.62 billion cubic metres as of Wednesday, compared with 272.79 billion cubic metres a year ago, according to the report. India's oilmeal exports in February fell 36% on year to 330,319 tonnes, according to data released by The Solvent Extractors' Association of India on Tuesday. Total oilmeal exports in Apr-Feb fell 12% to 3.9 million tonnes, the data showed. The decline in exports in Apr-Feb was mainly due to a fall in the exports of rapeseed meal and castor seed meal, the association said. The overall export of soymeal during Apr-Feb has been more or less same as last year and is reported at 1.94 million tonnes compared with 1.93 million tonnes in the same period last year. Germany and France are the major countries that import non-gentically modified soymeal from India. However, export of soymeal in the first five months of oil year 2024-25 (Oct-Sept) was 1.03 million tonnes, compared with 1.35 million tonnes, down by 23%, according to the association.

* Nearly 87% of the 200 sugar mills in Maharashtra halted operations for the season as of Thursday, according to the Sugar Commissionerate. During the corresponding period last year, only 114 mills had shut operations, the data showed. The rise in closures this year is attributed to lower availability of sugarcane and a decline in the sugar recovery rate. As of Thursday, 173 mills were shut across the state. Solapur recorded the highest number of closures, with 45 mills shutting down.

* The Food Corp. of India lost 65,000 tonnes of foodgrain worth INR 2.09 billion in transit as of Feb. 25 in 2024-25 (Apr-Mar). This accounts for 0.17% of the 38.2 million tonnes of foodgrain transported from surplus to deficit states. According to FCI, transit losses are inevitable as the agency moves most of foodgrains through railways. The government has set the benchmark for transit losses of foodgrains at 0.2% in FY25, as per the government's memorandum of understanding with the agency. According to FCI, transit losses occur due to multiple handling, spillages, poor railway infrastructure, en-route theft, and moisture and temperature variations, among others. "FCI moves about 600 lakh MT (60 million tonnes) of food grains every year from surplus states to deficit states...to ensure national food security," according to the parliamentary standing committee's report on the consumer affairs ministry.

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