Govt plans to sell 7-8 mn tons of wheat at Rs 1,890/qtl to bulk consumers

Saddled with huge stock, the government plans to offload 7-8 million tonnes of fresh wheat in the open market at Rs 1,890 per quintal rate for meeting the demand from flour millers and other bulk consumers.

According to sources, the open market sale scheme (OMSS) is likely to be launched for disposal of wheat for the 2018-19 marketing year (April-June).

The food ministry is likely to sell 7-8 million tonnes of wheat grown in 2017-18 crop year that ended last month. The rate at which the grain will be offloaded would be around Rs 100 per quintal higher than the last year, they added.

Last year, the OMSS rate for wheat was fixed at Rs 1,790 per quintal - ex-Ludhiana.

Sources said that the ministry had offered 5.4 million tonnes of wheat under the OMSS but only 1.5 million tonnes stock was sold.

"The wheat price to be fixed for sale under OMSS would be higher for this year. The industry may not purchase under the OMSS this year because there is enough grain available in the open market and the price is even lower than what would be offered under the OMSS," said M K Datta Raj, former president of the Rollers Flour Millers Federation of India.

The industry had not purchased wheat under the OMSS last year. Some states, including Karnataka, had bought grain for its welfare schemes.

As on June 1, the government was holding a wheat stock of 44 million tonnes. Its procurement agency FCI has purchased 35.5 million tonnes of fresh wheat in 2017-18.

As per the third estimate, wheat production is estimated to have been 98.51 million tonnes in the 2017-18 crop year that ended last month.