Wheat prices soften, Centre to offload wheat, rice on alternate week in market
The center announced on Thursday that both wheat and rice will be sold from government stocks through the electronic auction every alternate week, which may start after seven days. The Food Department also said that states will not be given additional amounts of grain beyond what they are entitled to under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and other “centralized” welfare systems.
Media Briefing, Ashok Kumar Meena, Chairman and Managing Director, Corporation Food Corporation of India (FCI), He said that unlike previous years, the government I decided to continue the Open Market Sales Scheme (OMSS) Throughout this year as sufficient grain must be provided. “This leaves little room for countries to provide additional grain,” he added.
Requirement to meet care schemes
“The annual requirement for the center to meet NFSA entitlement and other care plans such as the midday meal is about 57.6 million tons (metric tons) — 39.6 million tons of rice and 18 tons of wheat,” said Mina. As of June 14, the FCI had 57.39 tons of food grains comprising 26.51 tons of rice and 30.88 tons of wheat. Besides, there are 15.43 metric tons of rice (in the form of paddy) yet to be received by FCI.
“While the purchase of wheat is over and any quantity has to be managed for the whole year till March 2024 as the next crop will come in April, Khareef rice purchase It will start from October which will add to the stock of Central Pool,” said an official. “It is difficult to estimate how the rice will be procured because the rice sowing has just started amid the lack of monsoon in many parts,” the official added.
Regarding the OMSS, Meena said that the FCI has estimated the amount of rice that will be sold on the open market which will be announced shortly once preparations for the electronic auction begin. With the assurance that consuming countries will be in focus during the allocation of wheat in the electronic auction, the first round may see a sales offer of between 0.3 and 0.5 metric tons.
He also said that there would be no possibility of wheat stacking after it is lifted from the FCI because the batch size is a maximum of 100 tons per participant/entity, while it was 3,000 tons in the last round of OMSS. The government announced last week that it will sell 1.5 million tons of wheat on the open market through an electronic auction in the first phase and decide on the additional quantity according to the market price.
With regard to wheat prices, Subodh Kumar Singh, Additional Secretary in the Food Ministry said that the rates in mandas (market squares) have fallen after the announcement of OMSS and the imposition of stock limit. The average price of mandi was $2,268/quintal on June 14, down from $2,302/quintal in the previous week. Similarly, retail prices fell to ₹29.01/kg from ₹29.17/kg and wholesale prices to ₹2, 594/quintal from ₹2,603/quintal,” Singh said.
Apart from OMSS, the government on June 12 also Impose a stock limit on wheat To check more price increase saying mandi prices increased by 8 per cent in one month.