Rice purchase in India increased by 9.8% over the same period last year.

Between October 1st and November 15th, Indian state-owned food companies bought 11.06 million tons of rice from farmers, an increase of 9.8 per cent over the same period last year, according to an Indian government official. The purchase volume in the same period last year was 10.07 million tons. In 2008-09, state-owned food companies bought a total of 33.3 million tons of rice from farmers. As of November 1, federal rice stocks stood at 21.7 million tons, 5.2 million tons above the buffer level.