Govt to start sale of 25 LMT wheat from Feb 1 under Open Market Sale Scheme

Tenders for the sale be uploaded by the Regional Offices of Food Corporation of India (FCI) today.

Buyers willing to purchase wheat stocks have to register themselves with FCI’s e-auction Service Provider “m-Junction Services Limited” (https://www.valuejunction.in/fci/) and bid for stocks, the ministry said

The empanelment process would be completed within 72 hours for any party who wishes to register their name.

Stocks will be available from all states of the country in order to put an immediate curb on the rising prices, the ministry said.

“To address the rising price of wheat and Atta in the country, it was decided that FCI will make available 30 LMT wheat in the market through various routes under the Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic). FCI has started the process of E- auction of stocks within 24 hours of announcement of this scheme, throughout the country,” the government said in a statement.

Offloading of 30 LMT wheat in the market through OMSS (D) scheme within a span of two months through multiple channels will have wider reach as well as immediate impact on the soaring Wheat and Atta prices and will help containing the rising prices and will bring much relief to the common man, it added.

FCI undertakes the movement of foodgrains throughout the country to intervene the market for price stabilization of foodgrains and procures around 1300 LMT foodgrains (wheat and paddy) annually.

It would be worth mentioning here that the procurement of foodgrains is not evenly spread over the country.

While production in some states are highly surplus in terms of their requirements, the others are deficit either partially or fully.

Hence, to make available foodgrains for the vulnerable section of the society, in each and every corner of the country, FCI undertakes movement of foodgrains on mass-scale. Around 600 LMT foodgrains are moved annually to various corners of the country from major procuring states like Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Odisha etc.

To facilitate the storage and movement of foodgrains, FCI operates around 2000 depots including about 500 of its own depots throughout the country.

In terms of infrastructure, it has enhanced its storage capacity from 6 LMT in 1965 to more than 800 Lakh MT at present.