There is no “unusual volatility” in prices of essential agricultural commodities due to the West Asia war, a senior government official said on Monday.
“We are keeping a close watch on the food security situation in the country and monitoring prices of food commodities while ensuring adequate supply,” said Anupam Mishra, Additional Secretary in the Department of Consumer Affairs, at a briefing.
On pulses, Mishra said the government currently holds a buffer stock of 2.8 million tonnes (MT), including 0.7 MT each of chana and tur, which can be deployed for market intervention if required.
He added that the government has approved duty-free imports of tur and urad to augment domestic supplies. India imports around 15–18% of its annual pulses consumption.
For key horticultural crops—potato, onion and tomato—the official said there are no supply constraints at present.
What did C. Shikha say?
C. Shikha, Joint Secretary in the Department of Food and Public Distribution, said the country has adequate buffer stocks of foodgrains—rice and wheat—to ensure supplies for the public distribution system and for market interventions in case of emergencies.
She said India currently holds around 22.2 MT of wheat and about 38 MT of rice, taking total foodgrain stocks to approximately 60.2 MT, well above the prescribed buffer norms.
On edible oil supplies, Shikha said imports from key partners such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, Ukraine, Argentina and Brazil have remained steady, contributing to overall supply stability.
“Overall supply of cooking oils remains stable. The government will continue to monitor this closely and will intervene if required,” she said.
India’s edible oil imports
India imports around 57% of its edible oil requirement. Palm, soybean and sunflower oils account for the bulk of consumption, estimated at 25–26 MT. Domestic edible oil output comprises mustard (40%), soybean (24%), groundnut (7%) and others.
She added that improved mustard production has further strengthened domestic availability of cooking oils.
Govt offloads record 10.52 MT rice in FY26
The government offloaded a record 10.52 MT of rice in FY26 through the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS), supplies for ethanol manufacturing, liberal allocations to states, and the Bharat rice initiative, drawing from surplus grain stocks.
In the last fiscal, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) sold 5.22 MT of rice for ethanol manufacturing, 3.75 MT for state social welfare schemes and 1.46 MT under OMSS. This compares with the total offloading of 4.63 MT in FY25.
Despite record sales, central pool rice stocks continue to remain elevated. The current effective central pool stock with the FCI stands at over 60.28 MT—about three times the buffer norm of 21.04 MT as on April 1.
This figure excludes an additional 36.14 MT of rice yet to be received from millers.
In FY25, the FCI had allocated 4.63 MT of rice across state social welfare schemes (1.12 MT), OMSS (1.96 MT) and ethanol manufacturing (2.3 MT).
High procurement and robust crop output have kept stocks elevated. Annually, the FCI and state agencies procure around 52–53 MT of rice from farmers under the minimum support price (MSP) operations, while distributing about 36–38 MT under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), the free ration scheme.