Old stocks, fresh paddy pile & no space: Punjab rice mills face a new problem

The Indian government has extended the deadline for delivering Custom Milled Rice (CMR) for the 2025-26 crop to November 30, 2026, despite paddy harvesting in Punjab starting by October this year. Traditionally, 70-80 percent of milling occurs by March, with the remainder concluding by June-end; however, milling is extending into September due to prolonged paddy movement.

The Centre has directed the Punjab government and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to monitor CMR delivery at the field level and conduct age tests during delivery. However, Punjab's rice mills face a storage crunch as stocks from previous procurement seasons continue occupying space when fresh crops arrive. With limited government storage capacity, millers fear they may not have enough space to store the CMR of the fresh crop each year.

Millers estimate that around 80 percent of Punjab's 5,200 rice mills still have paddy from the previous season on their premises, and about 10 lakh metric tonnes of rice from the previous season remains undelivered. Gyan Bhardwaj, president of the Rice Millers' Association, Punjab, stated that the industry has not found an immediate solution to the storage issue, even after holding three meetings with the FCI and government.

Bhardwaj suggested that exporting some rice could help ease the space crunch, as the current situation forces mills to procure rice from other states to avoid penalties. The FCI has set this year's production target at 18 million tonnes, but actual output is expected to surpass 19 million tonnes in the state.