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The Government is reportedly considering a few measures to check rice prices, including stock limit and retail sales at discounted rates., The Reserve Bank of India has flagged the issue as a concern. The Centre is mulling these measures following poor offtake of the grain in the weekly auction on Wednesday. While 3.53 lakh tonnes (lt) of wheat were sold out of 4 lt on offer, only 10,000 tonnes of rice out of 1.93 lt offered by Food Corporation of India (FCI) were bought.
“It is unfortunate that traders are not listening to government and not participating in the auction even though they have been requested to do so. Though the Government never wanted to take any action, it may be forced to do so to increase availability,” a source said without elaborating what the options are before the Government.
Industry sources said a stock limit order is in the pipeline and there could be some discounted sales through cooperatives similar to Bharat atta, which is being sold at ₹275/10 kg pack.
So, far only 1.43 lt of rice have been sold whereas 55.11 lt of wheat have been sold by FCI under open market sales scheme (OMCC) since June 28 to increase domestic availability and curb price rise.
Prices up 14% YoY
Retail average price of rice has been recorded at ₹43.33/kg on December 26, up by 14 per cent from a year ago whereas wheat rate was ₹31.02/kg on Tuesday, up by 1 per cent from a year ago. In the wholesale market, the all India average rice is up by 15 per cent whereas wheat is down by 1 per cent from a year ago.
The Food Corporation of India (FCI), which is conducting the e-auctions, has so far conducted 27 rounds of bidding. The Centre has allocated 101.5 lt of wheat for the OMSS till March 2024 and is ready to further increase it by l 25 lt if there is demand.
The weighted average price of wheat was ₹2,181.31 per quintal on December 27 auction by FCI, a tad higher from ₹2,178.24/quintal in the previous week. The average selling price of rice was ₹2,910.86 per quintal, against ₹2,905.40/quintal in the previous week.
The government was expecting more participation from millers and traders after the minimum quantity of rice that a bidder can bid was reduced to 1 tonne from 10 tonnes and maximum quantity raised to 2,000 tonnes from 1,000 tonnes.
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