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Saddled with huge stocks and rising inflation in cereals, the government is planning to allow private traders to purchase wheat for sale in the open market from Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns situated in other states and not just in Punjab and Haryana.
This, officials said, would allow more traders to purchase wheat from FCI warehouses and help in swifter liquidation of stocks.
“The matter has been listed for discussion in the cabinet committee on economic affairs likely to be held in a day or two,” a senior official said.
Till date, of the allocated 10 million tonnes of foodgrains (wheat and rice) allocated for sale in the open market by the government, just 0.8-0.9 million tonnes have been lifted by traders.
Difficulty in transporting grains from Punjab and Haryana to other consuming centres has been cited as one of the prime reasons for traders refusing to purchase grains from FCI godowns.
As on September 1, the government has 58.9 million tonnes of foodgrains in its warehouses, of which 38.3 million tonnes is wheat and 20.57 million tonnes is rice.
This is against a requirement of 21.2 million tonnes of grains of which wheat is 14 million tonnes and rice is 7.2 million tonnes.
