To check rising retail prices, Centre to sell wheat, rice in open market

Addressing a press conference on Friday, FCI chairman and managing director Ashok Meena said the government has all the “instruments”, including the option of reducing import duty on wheat, which will be used when required.

Replying to a query, Meena said, “I have said all options are available with the government, including reduction of import duty. They are under consideration, and if required, if the retail prices do not decrease, every possible measure available to the government will be employed.”

The government has already imposed stock limits and released wheat in the market, but the prices are still high. Asked what other options are available with the government now, Meena said, “The government has more ‘instruments’ and these will be used in time to come. All instruments, including import duty reduction.”

At present, the import duty on wheat is around 40 per cent.

Meena said the government has directed the FCI to conduct e-auctions of wheat and rice to check the inflationary trends in the prevailing retail prices as a part of market intervention to control the price of wheat and rice.

Announcing that 4 LMT of wheat is being offered in the first e-auction to be held on June 28, Meena said the base price has been kept at the same level at Rs 2,150 per quintal for Fair Average Quality (FAQ) and Rs 2,125 per quintal for Under Relaxed Specifications (URS).

This quantity of wheat will be offered from 457 depots across the country, he said.

To control the hoarding of wheat, the government has decided that the declaration on the wheat stock monitoring system portal is mandatory for participation in the auctions.

To identify genuine processors and traders, the valid FSSAI licence has also been made mandatory for participation, he added.

Meena said the maximum quantity that a buyer can bid for is limited to 100 MTs in this e-auction. To accommodate the small wheat processors and traders, the minimum quantity has been kept to 10 MTs, he added.

The FCI chairman further said the bidding is limited to the local buyers and for this, the GST registration of the state is mapped and checked before the stocks are released. These measures are taken to ensure a wider local reach for the stocks offered in a particular state, he said.

For the e-auction of rice, which will commence from July 5, the base price is fixed at Rs 3,100 per quintal, Meena said.

Earlier this year, the government had released wheat in the open market. During the financial year 2022-23, 33.7 LMT of wheat was released through the open market sale till March 15, 2023.