As you are aware, wheat is in high demand, on account of the ongoing Russia – Ukraine war. This war has reduced the global supply of wheat.
Because of this, the prices of wheat have been increasing steadily since February 2022.
Further, the government, which runs the public distribution (or ration) system, which supplies subsidised or free food to about 800 million people in India, needs to procure the staple cereals of India – wheat and rice, in large quantities.
In the last procurement season (Rabi 2022), the expected production was 110 MT and up to May 2022, about 18 MT had been procured. In 2021-22 (March-June 2021), 43 million tonnes was procured by FCI and state agencies. The target for this year’s procurement was 44 MT.
According to this share by the Food Corporation of India, India’s wheat stocks at 227 MT are just above the required buffer of 205 MT.