The Centre may offload about 30 lakh (3 million) tonnes of wheat and 15 lakh (1.5 million) tons of rice out of its reserves in the open market to contain the rise in prices of foodgrain at a time when about one-fourth of the country is reeling under a drought-like situation.
Not just this, if the proposal of the food ministry is anything to go by, the ban on the exports of wheat and non- basmati rice is likely to continue, so also the regime of importing wheat at zero duty.
Accordingly, the ministry has sought approval from the empowered group of ministers, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, for offloading wheat and rice in the open market after ensuring that the requirement under buffer and strategic reserves are met, official sources said.
A meeting of EGoM was earlier scheduled for August 6 but it was cancelled.
The proposal came amid apprehensions about rise in prices of foodgrains, mainly rice, in view of a slump in paddy acreage following the poor monsoon.
Under the Open Market Sale Scheme, meant for both states as well as bulk consumers, the Centre may offload up to 30 lakh (3 million) tons of wheat and 15 lakh (1.5 million) tonnes of rice, they added.
According to the proposal, the quantity and timing of releasing the stock in the open market would be decided by the ministry in consultation with the committee of secretaries.
Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Thursday the government would decide in about a week on offloading foodgrains in the open market.
The government had 50.4 million tonnes of foodgrain -- 18.79 million tonnes of rice and 31.62 million tonnes of wheat in its granaries as of July end.
The food ministry has also proposed that private traders should not be allowed to export wheat and wheat products further. At present, these traders are permitted to export only 6,50,000 tonnes of wheat products.
Though, the export of both wheat and non-basmati rice is banned, the Centre had earlier allowed the outbound shipment of about 20 lakh (2 million) tons each of the foodgrain to countries which had placed request through diplomatic channels.
The ministry has also suggested that the import of wheat at zero duty be continued as the price of the commodity might rise after a few months, sources said.
Early this year, the ministry had suggested that the import duty on wheat be raised as the government had enough stocks in the central pool. However, the EGoM in the previous government decided against it.
