New Delhi: The Centre announced Tuesday sale of an additional 20 lakh tonne of wheat in the open market. This will be done to further bring down the retail prices of wheat and wheat flour (atta). The Centre has also asked flour millers to cut rates with softening in wholesale price of grain.
The Centre had announced sale of 30 lakh tonne of wheat in the open market January 25 from its buffer stock to check rise in prices of wheat and wheat flour (atta).
According to an official statement, the government has decided that state-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) will offload an additional quantity of 20 lakh tonne of wheat in open market under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS). The stocks will be sold through e-auction to flour mills/private traders/bulk buyers/manufactures of wheat products. The proposal to sell wheat stocks in the open market was taken by a group of ministers, sources said.
“So far, 50 lakh tonne (30+20 lakh tonnes) of wheat have been decided to be offloaded under the OMSS. The reduction in reserve price along with additional offloading of 20 lakh tonne of wheat will collectively help in reducing market price of wheat and wheat products for consumers,” the statement released by the Centre, said.
Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra held a video conference meeting with Food Corporation of India (FCI) and the representatives of flour millers/associations/ federations/atta, suji product manufacturers on to review the lifting of stocks in the second round of e-auction held recently.
Flour millers were advised to bring down the prices of atta and other products in line with the reduction in market prices of wheat, the statement said.
After announcement of the OMSS policy, the Food Ministry said that prices of wheat and atta have come down but still inflation figure for January 2023 was at three months high of 6.52 per cent.
As per the government data, the average prices of wheat across major cities stood at Rs 33.15 per kilogram Monday, while the average prices of atta (wheat flour) stood at Rs 37.63 per kg.