Excess Wheat And Rice To Be Offloaded In Open Market

Wheat and rice being an excess is being planned to be offloaded into the open market from the government godowns reports the Economic Times. The fresh procurement season is on and the space needs to be evacuated. The decision is currently under discussion amongst the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) and after being passed by them and the finance ministry, the final word will be of the Election Commission of India.

Storing Rice And Wheat

“Our godowns are inundated with rice and wheat and we are procuring more in the current season. To make way for the new crop, we need to liquidate wheat stocks in the open market at above the reserve price, which is the sum of the minimum support price of the foodgrain and its procurement cost,” a senior food ministry official told the Economic Times. The report further explains that generally an open market sale is held after procurement for the bulk consumers but this time there will be an e-auction. Currently, the Food Corporation of India has 26.3 million tonnes of rice and 20.1 million tonnes of wheat in store.

The official told ET that, “We were able to sell 7 million tonnes of wheat and 800,000 tonnes of rice. This year also, the target is likely to be the same. But rice is not the favourite among millers and bulk consumers. We are unlikely to get very good response. But evacuating space from the new harvest is equally important.”