Govt orders weekly wheat stocks reporting from April 1 to prevent hoarding

The stock holding limit on wheat is also set to expire on March 31, 2024 after which traders have to give details of their inventories on a regular basis

The central government has asked traders, major retailers, and food processors to declare wheat stocks every Friday from April 1 to prevent hoarding and price spikes, an official statement said on Friday.

Traders said the directive issued just when the peak wheat procurement season was set to start in major growing states from April 1 was also to shore up government purchases for the central pool.

As of March 1, 2024, wheat stocks in the central pool had fallen to a seven-year low of 9.7 million tonnes due to procurement being below par.

Last year, stocks on March 1, 2023, stood at around 11.67 million tonnes. Wheat stocks as on April 1 of each year should be around 7.5 million tonnes, according to the buffer and strategic reserve norms.

 

The stock-holding limit on wheat is set to expire on March 31, 2024. After this traders have to give details of their inventories on a regular basis.

“In order to manage the overall food security and to prevent hoarding and unscrupulous speculation, the Government of India has decided that traders or wholesalers, and retailers, big chain retailers and processors in all States and Union Territories have to declare their stock position of wheat on the portal (https://evegoils.nic.in/wheat/login.html) from April 1 and then, on every Friday till further orders,” the official said.

The statement said the rice stock declaration by all categories of entities was in place.

“Any entity which is not registered on the portal may register themselves and start disclosing the wheat and rice stock on every Friday. Now, all legal entities have to declare their wheat and rice stock on the portal regularly,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, the government has targeted procuring 30-32 million tonnes of wheat in 2024-25, up from the 26 million tonnes in 2023-24.

The last time wheat stocks were below the current levels on March 1 was back in 2017. It had then dropped to 9.42 million tonnes.

The government is keen to replenish stocks by increasing wheat procurement this year and to do this effectively, it wants to monitor private buying, said a trader.

“If needed, the government can again impose the stock limit to facilitate procurement,” he added.

“In Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, wheat procurement will be good because farmers are getting a bonus there while in UP purchases could be a problem because most private entities are keen to buy from the state instead of MP or Rajasthan as the price is relatively cheap in that state.

That is why to me the central government is keen to keep a tab on private stocks,”  a leading commodity analyst said.