Govt mulls cut in reserve price of rice; wheat price to remain unchanged

Sitting on a huge buffer stock, the government is considering cutting reserve price of rice by almost Rs 500 per quintal for bulk buyers to boost its sale through open market.

However, there is no plan to cut wheat price, official sources said.

The government is considering downward revision of reserve price of rice from Rs 2,785 per quintal to Rs 2,250 per quintal in order to boost sale from central pool stock under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) in 2019-20, sources said.

Food Ministry runs OMSS to sell wheat and rice stored in buffer stock by the Food Corporation of India (FCI).

Foodgrains are sold through tender at a reserve price to flour and rice millers and user industries.

However, there is no plan for any revision in reserve price of wheat, and the current reserve price of wheat will continue to prevail throughout the remaining period of 2019-20, they said.

FCI, the government's nodal agency for procurement and distribution of foodgrains, has 23.1 million tonnes of rice and 37.3 million tonnes of wheat.

The total foodgrain stock stands at about 60 million tonnes as on November 1.

FCI has decided to sell 10 million tonnes of wheat to bulk consumers this fiscal, over 40 per cent more than the previous year. The base base price of wheat is Rs 2,080 per quintal.

During the last fiscal, FCI had sold 7 million tonnes of wheat.

The sale of wheat and rice to bulk buyers is to make space for the new crop.

The current foodgrain storage capacity in the country is around 88 million tonnes, with over 75 million tonnes covered and 13 million tonnes covered area plinth.