In order to increase the availability of wheat and rice in the open market to ameliorate inflationary trends in wheat and rice prices, Food Corporation of India, has been offloading wheat and rice in the market through weekly e-auctions.

On December 15, the centre announced that bidders will now be allowed to bid for any quantity of rice from 1 to 2000 tonnes per auction

In as many as 25 e-auctions under the Open Market Sales Scheme (OMSS), while a total amount of 48.12 lakh tonnes of wheat has been sold by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), rice found few takers with only 1.19 lakh tonne of the commodity sold.

In order to increase the availability of wheat and rice in the open market to ameliorate inflationary trends in wheat and rice prices, Food Corporation of India, has been offloading wheat and rice in the market through weekly e-auctions. Current phase of offloading of wheat in the open market started on June 28 this year.

To encourage sales of rice, the government has tweaked its policy twice now. It first brought down prices of the rice from Rs 3,100 per quintal to Rs 2,900 per quintal, with a Rs 200 per quintal differential cost covered by the Price Stabilization Fund.

On December 15, the centre announced that bidders will now be allowed to bid for any quantity of rice from 1 to 2,000 tonnes per auction.

“The rice offered under the Central pool is of excellent quality, and traders are invited to actively engage in e-auctions to ensure easy and affordable availability for consumers in the market,” the FCI said in a press statement.

Good procurement and stock of rice with FCI will be utilized to cater to the PDS requirement as well as for market intervention, it added.

Meanwhile, the Government of India has allocated 101.5 lakh tonne wheat for offloading under OMSS. Reserve price for the FAQ wheat and URS wheat has been kept as Rs 2150 per quintal and Rs 2125 per quintal, respectively.

Published Date: December 15, 2023