Domestic rice procurement by Indian government agencies is likely to fall short of the targeted 27 million MT in the marketing year ending september as farmers are reluctant to sell their harvest hoping for an increase in the market intervention prices.

According to the latest governmnet data, India's state-run agencies have procured around 8.08 million tons of rice as of Thursday, down 5.49% from a year-earlier.

Farmers in several key rice-growing states are demanding that the intervention price be raised to INR10,000 PMT from the current INR7,950 PMT for superior varieties, in line with higher wheat prices.

India's rice marketing year starts in October and ends in September. The government purchases rice from farmers at state-set intervention prices to run its subsidized rice sale programs.