The Centre has decided to offload 30 lakh metric tonnes of wheat under the Open Market Disposal Scheme (OMSS) to bring down the prices of wheat and atta and provide relief to consumers who have been facing high prices for these essential items.

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Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha said that the wheat stocks will be sold to state governments, Kendriya Bhandar, National Consumer Cooperative Federation (NCCF), National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED), State Cooperatives/ Federations etc.

"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, restrictions on exports of the commodity," the minister added.

Also Read: Govt to take decision on lifting wheat export ban in March-April: DGFT chief

The prices of wheat and atta have increased in the retail market and the government has been exploring all options to control the rates. The Centre has taken several steps to curb the export of food grains and promote the availability of these essential items within the country.

The MoS said that in 2022, the Centre amended the export policy of wheat from free to prohibited, and the export of wheat flour (atta) is subject to the recommendation of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC). Similarly, the export of broken rice has been banned, and export duty of 20 percent imposed on non-Basmati rice.

To augment domestic availability and moderate the prices of pulses, import of tur and urad have been kept under 'Free Category' till March 31, 2024 and import duty on masur has been reduced to zero.

To prevent hoarding and restrictive trade practices in respect of tur the Government has issued a directive to all the States and UTs to enforce stock disclosure by stockholders of tur under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and to also monitor and verify the stocks. Stocks of chana and moong from the Price Support Scheme (PSS) and Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) buffer are continuously released in the market to moderate the prices and also supplied to the States for welfare schemes. These measures aim to create a stable and affordable supply of pulses in India.

In order to stablilise the volatility in prices of onion, the Government procured a record 2.51 lakh metric tonnes from Rabi-2022 crop under Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) and released in major consumption centres during September, 2022 and January, 2023.

To control the prices of edible oil, the Government reduced the basic import duty on crude palm oil, crude soyabean oil and crude sunflower oil to zero and Agri-cess on these oils has been brought down to 5 percent. The basic duty on refined soyabean oil and refined sunflower oil has been reduced to 17.5 percent from the previous rate of 32.5 percent and the basic duty on refined palm oils has been reduced from 17.5 percent to 12.5 percent. The Government has also kept the import of refined palm oils under ‘Free’ category, added the Minister.

Also Read: Export ban on wheat and broken rice to continue, says government official

(Edited by : Anushka Sharma)