Wheat Stocks

The government on Wednesday further tightened wheat stock holding norms for wholesalers, small and big chain retailers, and processors to curb hoarding and check price rise. "As part of continuous efforts to moderate prices of wheat, the central government has decided to revise the wheat stock limit applicable until 31st March 2025," the food ministry said in a statement. According to the revised norms, wholesalers are now allowed to maintain wheat stock up to 1,000 tonne instead of 2,000 tonne, retailer can hold 5 tonne for each outlet instead of 10 tonne, while big chain retailer can hold 5 tonne for each outlet instead of 10 tonne earlier. Processors will be allowed to maintain 50 per cent instead of 60 per cent of their monthly installed capacity multiplied by the remaining months till April 2025. The stock limits on wheat were first imposed on June 24 and later revised to tighten the norms on September 9 in order to manage the overall food security and to prevent hoarding and

Centre has imposed a stockholding limit on wheat for retailers, wholesalers, processors and big-chain retailers from Monday, to check the hoarding of the foodgrain and to ensure price stability, a senior official said on Monday. Single retailers, big-chain retailers, processors and wholesalers will disclose wheat stocks every Friday, said Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra in a press briefing here. Chopra stressed that "I want to dispel the shortage of wheat in the country." He also noted that there is no ban on wheat exports as of now and there is no proposal to review a ban on export of sugar. He stated, "We want prices of wheat to be stable." Chopra further informed that the stock limit for wholesalers will be 3,000 tonnes, while it would be 70 per cent of the processing capacity for processors. For big chain retailers it would be 10 tonnes per outlet with an overall limit for 3,000 tonnes and for single retailers it would be 10 tonnes, he informed. Chopra explained that the

India had imposed a limit on how much wheat stock traders could hold to moderate prices. However, the limit is set to expire on March 31st and after that, traders must declare their wheat stocks

The Union government said that the move is in a bid to manage the overall food situation and prevent hoarding and unscrupulous speculation

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 farm ministry in February predicted a record harvest of 112 million tons this year, and farmers will begin collecting crops in April

Last year, the government banned exports after output was curtailed due to a heat wave and overseas sales picked up as Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent global prices to multi-year highs

The government is ready to offload additional 2.5 million tonnes of FCI wheat to bulk consumers during January-March 2024, under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS), in order to boost domestic supply and check price rise, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said on Friday. In May this year, the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the government's nodal agency for procurement and distribution of grains, was given a mandate to sell wheat from the central pool to bulk consumers through an e-auction under OMSS throughout the fiscal except during procurement period in wheat growing states. Briefing the media, the Food Secretary said so far 4.46 million tonnes has been offloaded by FCI to processors through weekly e-auctions. "This has increased availability of wheat into the open market at affordable prices, benefitting general consumers across the country," Chopra said. Depending on the requirement, the Secretary said "additional 2.5 million tonnes can be offloaded under OMSS during January-Marc

The government on Friday further tightened stock holding norms for wholesalers, retailers, big chain retailers and processors with immediate effect in order to curb hoarding and to check price rise. Briefing media, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said the stock limit has been reduced to 1,000 tonnes from the existing 2,000 tonnes for traders/wholesalers. The stock limit will be 5 tonnes instead of 10 tonnes on each retailer, 5 tonnes for each depot of a big chain retailer and a total of 1,000 tonnes for all their depots, he said. In case of processors, they can hold 70 per cent of monthly installed capacity multiplied by the remaining months of 2023-24, he added. "This has been done to prevent artificial scarcity and curb hoarding. The revised stock limits will be applicable from immediate effect," Chopra said. The traders will get 30 days time to reduce the stock to the revised limits, he added. All wheat stocking entities are required to register on the wheat stock limit portal .

The Sovecon agriculture consultancy saw the price for the same class of wheat last week at $227-231 per ton FOB, down $2 from the week before

In March, sources told Reuters that the Russian government was recommending exporters ensure prices were high enough to cover farmers' production costs

India's government could sell more wheat in open market to control price of the grain, the country's food secretary said on Monday

Enforcement of stock limits on wheat is puzzling

The ban was first introduced in May last year because of a decline in wheat production in the country

But with the Covid-era free food grain schemes rolled back, the stock position may be more comfortable, even as exports have been banned

The ban on exports of wheat will continue as India has to ensure adequate supplies of the foodgrain for its domestic market and keep the inflation at check, Union minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday. He said that the procurement of wheat has started and the numbers for the first week of buying are "very" satisfactory. "I could believe that we will have a good harvest despite the unseasonal rains...We do believe that we will have to ensure adequate supplies for the Indian market and once the procurement period is over, we believe that it will be important that inflation is also contained in the country and therefore it is important that the wheat exports continue to remain banned," the commerce and industry and consumer affairs, food and public distribution minister told reporters here. He is here on a two-day visit to meet leaders and businesses in order to enhance economic ties between India and Italy. India, the world's second-largest wheat producer, banned wheat exports in Ma

Last year, in the month of April, the wheat stocks in the country stood at 18.9 MMT and there were concerns regarding the wheat stocks in the country

Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra on Wednesday said the prices of wheat in wholesale and retail markets have come down by about Rs 5 per kg after the Centre's decision to sell 3 million tonnes of the grain in the open market, and asserted that more steps will be taken if required to ease rates. The government is closely monitoring the prices of wheat and atta (wheat flour) and, if needed, will take more steps, including offering more wheat under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS), to bring down the prices and provide relief to consumers, Chopra told reporters here. He said the government is not considering any proposal as of now to lift the ban on wheat exports, which was imposed in May last year after a sharp fall in its procurement. "From the time the OMSS was announced in January, wheat prices have come down. Wheat prices in wholesale markets are ruling less than Rs 2,500 per quintal," he said, and hoped that the prices would fall further in the coming days. The government of

Some delay in offloading central wheat stocks causes spike

Official sources said that more than 1,100 bidders came forward for participation in the e-auction