24th June, 2003
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution  


KHARIF MARKETING SEASON 2003-04

FOOD MINISTRY REVIEWS ARRANGEMENTS FOR PACKAGING MATERIAL


A meeting of Food Secretaries from all the major rice procuring States was convened in the Department of Food and Public Distribution today to review the issues relating to supply of packaging material, both gunny bags as well as HDPE/PP bags, for the forthcoming Kharif Marketing Season 2003-04. The procurement of wheat during the Rabi Marketing Season 2003-04, which has now concluded, is 157 lakh tonnes while the procurement of rice as on 24th June 2003 has so far been 157.71 lakh tonnes.

The State Governments of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal attended the meeting. The meeting was also attended by the officers of the DGS&D and the FCI. The review indicated that the requirement of packaging material would be small in view of the significant number of left over gunny bags from the Rabi Marketing Season 2003-04.