Govt offloads 4 MT of wheat in open market from its surplus stock

By Sandip Das

The government has so far offloaded 3.9 million tonne (MT) of wheat under the open market sale scheme (OMSS) by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to bulk buyers this fiscal.

On Wednesday, the corporation sold 0.28 MT of wheat in the weekly e-auction which commenced in June, against 0.3 MT offered on sale for the flour millers and processors.

The government is aiming to sell 10 MT of wheat through OMSS till March 31, 2024 to boost domestic supplies.

“After maintaining a buffer of 7.46 MT of wheat on April 1, we intend to sell all the surplus grain stock of FCI in the market to curb prices,” the food ministry official told FE.

According to the food ministry official, the weighted average selling price of wheat under open market sale scheme on Wednesday’s auction was Rs 2,249.73/quintal against the reserve price of Rs 2,127.47/quintal.

The minimum support price of wheat for the current season is Rs 2,125/quintal. The wheat procurement season for 2024-25 marketing season will commence on April 1.

At present, wheat stock with FCI is 20.91 MT against the buffer of 13.8 MT for January 1.

In addition, the FCI has also allocated 0.25 MT of wheat to the Kendriya Bhandar, farmers’ cooperatives Nafed and National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) at MSP rate for converting into ‘Bharat Atta’ which is being sold to consumers at Rs 27.5/kg.

As per earlier policy, the corporation had been selling surplus wheat to bulk buyers like flour millers only during the lean season (January-March).

This article has been republished from the Financial Express.