NEW DELHI : As recommended by the Committee of Ministers to deal with the rising prices of wheat and flour in the country, Food Corporation of India (FCI) has decided to sell Central Pool Wheat under Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic) on 1st and 2nd February 2023 in e-auction. Out of 25 Lakh MT wheat stock earmarked for e-auction of wheat through various routes, 22.0 Lakh MT wheat has been offered.
In the first week of e-auction, more than 1150 bidders participated and 9.2 Lakh MT wheat was sold across the country. Apart from this, the sale of wheat through e-auction will continue every Wednesday across the country till the second week of March 2023.
In the first week of e-auction, the maximum demand for wheat was in the range of 100 to 499 MT, followed by 500-1000 MT of wheat, followed by 50-100 MT of wheat, indicating that small and Medium flour millers and traders actively participated in the auction. Only 27 bids were received for a maximum quantity of 3000 MT at a time.
A weighted average rate of Rs.2474/- per quintal was issued by FCI in the auction and FCI earned Rs.2290 crore in the e-auction held in the first week of February.
3 Lakh MT wheat allotted to Government PSUs/Kendriya Bhandar, PSUs/Cooperatives/Federation like NCCF and NAFED for sale without e-auction at a concessional rate of Rs 2350 per quintal for making wheat flour. He offered flour to the public at the maximum retail price of 29.50 per kg. NCCF has been allocated 50000 MT of wheat for 7 states. To reduce the price of flour in the country, one lakh metric tonne wheat has been allocated to NAFED and Kendriya Bhandar under this scheme. Kendriya Bhandar has started a plan to sell flour under the above scheme. NAFED is also preparing to start this scheme in 8 states.
Due to e-auction, the market price of wheat has seen a decline of more than 10 percent during the last one week. After the offtake of wheat sold in the e-auction and availability of flour in the market, the prices are set to decline further.