With the aim to contain the rise in prices of wheat, the government on Thursday announced that it would sell 2.5 million tonne (MT) of the grain from its stock to bulk buyers such as flour millers and processors through weekly e-auctions under the open market sale scheme till March 2025.
In FY24, the FCI had commenced open market sale of wheat from June and had offloaded a record 10 MT for bulk purchase.
Navneet Chitlangia, president, Roller Flour Millers Federation of India, said the government’s move to sell wheat in the open market would bring down any possibility of rise in prices in the coming months — considered “lean” in term of supplies. “The prices of wheat would stabilise around Rs 29-30/kg in coming months or till the new harvests arrive by April,” Chitlangia told FE.
For checking inflationary trends in food economy, the FCI would start offloading wheat at a price excluding transportation of Rs 2,325/quintal, according to an official statement. The prices are lower than the prevailing market prices of around Rs 2,850/quintal in the Delhi market. At present, FCI has 21.09 MT of wheat stock against the buffer of 13 MT for January 1. In addition, the government has started to sell wheat from its stock under Bharat atta initiative through retail outlets at Rs 30/kg.
In June, the government had imposed stock holding limits on wheat for retailers and wholesalers till March, 31, 2025. Inflation in wheat was 7.54% in October on year. Inflation has been in single digit since August 2023. The government estimates wheat output in the 2023-24 crop year (July-June) at 112.92 MT.