Centre to offload 25 lakh tonnes of wheat in open market to bring down price

New Delhi, Nov 28 (IANS) The Centre has decided that Food Corporation of India (FCI) will offload 25 lakh metric tonnes of wheat under the Open Market Sales Scheme 2024 to bring down prices of the cereal in the market, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution announced on Thursday.

The wheat will be put up for sale in the open market through E-auction to flour mills, manufacturers of wheat products, processors and end users of wheat, according to the official statement.

“For checking inflationary trend in the food economy, the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government of India, in its OMSS(D) policy for 2024 has fixed the reserve price of Rs 2,325 per quintal for wheat (FAQ) and Rs. 2300 per quintal for wheat (URS) of all crops including rabi marketing season 2024-25 up to March 31, 2025, for sale to private parties through e-auction,” the official statement said.

The government has been taking various steps to bring down prices of food items as inflation based on consumer prices has shot up.

The government has also been distributing atta and rice to retail consumers under the Bharat brand at subsidised prices to keep inflation in check.

In order to intervene directly in the retail market, the government has also converted part of the stock of pulses from the buffer to dals for retail sale to the consumers at affordable prices under the Bharat Dal brand.

The retail prices of Tur and Urad have declined or remained stable in the last three months with the decline in wholesale mandi prices, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, B.L. Verma told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The Department of Consumer Affairs also holds regular meetings with Retailers’ Association of India (RAI) and organised retail chains to deliberate on the trends in mandi and retail prices of pulses to ensure that retailers maintain the retail margins at reasonable levels, the minister said.

The condition of Kharif crops is good and harvesting is completed for short duration crops such as Moong, Urad, while harvesting of Tur crop has just commenced. The weather has also been favourable for the crop in maintaining a good flow across the supply chain to the consumers, which is expected to moderate the prices of pulses, he added.

--IANS

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