Indian gov’t to offload 3 mln tons of wheat to cool down prices

The Indian government said Friday that it has decided to offload 3 million metric tons of wheat under Open Market Disposal Scheme (OMSS) to cool down prices of wheat and wheat flour.

Junior minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti made the announcement in the upper house of the Indian parliament, locally called Rajya Sabha.

“The government has also decided to offload 30 lakh (3 million) metric tons of wheat under Open Market Disposal Scheme (OMSS) and sales to state governments, Kendriya Bhandar (central inventory), National Consumer Cooperative Federation (NCCF), National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED), State cooperatives/ Federations etc., to cool down the prices of wheat and atta (wheat flour),” Jyoti said.

According to the official, the government has taken various steps from time to time to augment domestic availability and control increasing food prices.

“These steps, inter-alia, include releases from the buffer to cool down prices, imposition of stock limits, monitoring of stocks declared by entities to prevent hoarding as also requisite changes in trade policy instruments like rationalization of import duty, changes in import quota, and restrictions on exports of the commodity,” she added.

The minister said to manage the overall food security of the country and control the increasing prices of foodgrains, the government amended the export policy of wheat from free to prohibited category last year for restricting export of Indian Durum Wheat, and the export of atta (wheat flour) is subjected to the recommendation of Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on export of wheat from July 12, 2022.

Tags: Open Market Disposal Scheme, OMSS, prices, wheat, India, stocks, wheat flour, durum wheat, food security, atta