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Informist, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025

 

By Afra Abubacker

 

NEW DELHI – The Food Corp. of India has slowed the pace of its wheat auction under the open market sales scheme to once a fortnight instead of every week amid poor buying interest. The Food Corp. will auction wheat "fortnightly for the time being," an FCI official told Informist. The offered quantity is likely to remain broadly unchanged in the coming auctions, he added.  

 

Last week, Food Corp. sold just over one-third of the 200,000 tonnes it offered as ample supplies in the market at competitive mandi prices kept buyers at bay. It began wheat auctions for 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) on Nov. 12. In the opening round, millers and processors only bought 72,856 tonnes, or around 36% of the offered quantity. In contrast, FCI recorded robust sales last year, when it began the auctions in December, and millers and processors had picked up almost the entire quantity offered in most rounds.  

 

For 2025-26, the government has allocated 3.0 million tonnes of wheat to be sold under open market sales scheme, unchanged from last year. FCI sells wheat to liquidate excess inventory and stabilise prices in the open market.

 

Unlike this year so far, the 2024-25 wheat auctions were very robust, with millers and processors bidding competitively to pick up more wheat from government godowns amid tight market supplies.

FCI has a "very flexible policy" and may revert to weekly auctions if required, Sandeep Bansal, a miller from Uttar Pradesh, said.

However, most market participants anticipate FCI to hold auctions only fortnightly till January.  

 

Wheat prices typically tend to firm up in January, and FCI actively offloads its stocks to check prices during the month. According to some market participants, FCI may offer some discounts to improve its wheat sales. "They might reduce reserve price or offer some discount on freight charges," Bansal said. 

 

However, not all market experts agree with this view as reducing the reserve price of FCI wheat will further weigh on market rates, which will not go well with farmers and cast a shadow on next year's crop. "Wheat prices are already lower on year. Mandi prices are lower than FCI issue price," farm expert G.K. Sood said.

 

"Even if wheat prices fall in January, OMSS is a necessity for the government. They are sitting on surplus food grain stocks," Bansal said. As of Nov. 1, wheat stocks with FCI were up 38% on year at 30.7 million tonnes, and rice stocks over 13% higher on year at 33.6 million tonnes.  End

 

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

 

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