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Informist, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024

 

--FCI: Food grain stocks 54.8 mln tn as on Oct. 1 vs 46.2 mln tn yr ago

--FCI: Wheat stocks at 23.8 mln tn as on Oct. 1 vs 24.0 mln tn yr ago

--FCI: Rice stocks at 31.1 mln tn as on Oct. 1 vs 22.2 mln tn year ago

 

MUMBAI – The government's rice stocks with the Food Corp of India as of Oct. 1 were the highest since 2005, according to data from the nodal food procurement agency. Rice stocks rose nearly 40% on year to 31.1 million tonnes in October, but fell nearly 4% on month, the data showed.  

 

Amid ample rice stocks with the Centre and higher than normal paddy acreage in the kharif season, the government in September relaxed curbs on exports of non-basmati white rice with a minimum export price of $490 per tonne. In July 2023, the government had prohibited the export of non-basmati white rice due to concerns over lower paddy acreage and to control soaring rice prices. It had also scrapped the minimum export price of $950 per tonne on basmati rice shipments in September. 

 

At the same time, it had also reduced the 20% export duty on parboiled rice to 10%. The government, in August 2023, had imposed 20% duty on the export of parboiled rice to ensure adequate local stock and keep domestic prices in check. The duty was to be levied till Mar 31, but in February the government said the duty would continue until further notice. However, the ban on the non-basmati broken rice variety, imposed in September 2022, still persists.

 

Along with relaxing the curbs on rice exports, the government also allowed ethanol distilleries to participate in FCI's weekly auctions amid high stocks. It allowed distilleries to buy a maximum of 2.3 million tonnes of rice. In an effort to reduce stocks, the Centre also allowed states to buy the grain directly from the FCI through open market sales, without participating in the electronic auction.

 

The current rice stocks are far above the Oct-Dec buffer norm of 10.25 million tonnes – operational stock of 8.25 million tonnes and strategic reserve of 2 million tonnes. 

 

As of Oct. 1, total food grain stocks with the FCI were 54.8 million tonnes, down 4.6% on month but up nearly 19% on year. On Oct. 1 2023, food grain stocks with the FCI were 46.2 million tonnes, according to the data.  

 

Meanwhile, the government's wheat stocks fell 5.4% on month and nearly 1% from the previous year to 23.8 million tonnes, the data showed. However, this time, wheat stocks were slightly above the buffer norms for this quarter.     

According to buffer norms, the minimum wheat stocks for Oct-Dec should be 20.52 million tonnes – operational stock of 17.52 million tonnes and strategic reserve of 3 million tonnes. The government sets the buffer requirement of food grains for every quarter, and the FCI has to maintain the mandated level.

 

The fall in wheat stocks is mainly due to lower procurement by the government during Apr-Jun. The government could not meet its wheat procurement target of 30-32 million tonnes for rabi marketing season 2024-25 (Apr-Mar). Procurement of wheat by the government ended on Jun. 30, with the Centre managing to buy 26.60 million tonnes from farmers, slightly more than 26.20 million tonnes last year.  End

 

Reported by J. Navya Sruthi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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