Wheat prices go up in Odisha as FCI holding back open market sale

BHUBANESWAR: With the Food Corporation of India (FCI) stopping open sale of wheat since February this year and the Centre yet to respond to the state government’s request for increasing supply of the foodgrain under the public distribution system, the prices of flour and other derivatives have gone up significantly in the markets.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution had given its approval to FCI to commence the sale of wheat from its inventory to private players from August 1 through e-auction at a reserve price of Rs 2,335 per quintal but the central agency has not acted on it. As a result, flour mills in the state are procuring their requirement from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh at much higher prices, said a miller.

With 84 flour mills operating in the state, their annual wheat requirement is about 24 lakh tonnes. Under the open market sale scheme (OMSS), FCI offers wheat to the millers through e-auction. An eligible bidder can bid for a minimum of 10 tonnes to maximum 100 tonne.

“The monthly requirement for my flour mill is 15,000 quintal of wheat but I was allowed to bid for maximum 4,000 quintal. I have no other option but to purchase the balance requirement from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh at much higher than the reserve price fixed by the central government for FCI. The cost has to be passed on to the consumers,” the mill owner said. The open market price of wheat now is Rs 2,850 per quintal. After processing, the price of atta comes to around Rs 3,400 to Rs 3,500 per quintal.