Under check: FCI offloading wheat and rice to private buyers under OMSS in Karnataka

Bengaluru: The regional office of the Food Corporation of India is offloading wheat and rice to private buyers under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS-Domestic) via e-auction on every Wednesday to keep the retail price under check, Bhupendra Singh Bhati, General Manager at the FCI's Karnataka office here said on Wednesday.

According to Bhati, the reserve price of wheat has been fixed at Rs 2,150 per quintal for Fair and Average Quality (FAQ) and Rs 2,125 per quintal for the Under Relaxed Specifications (URS) variety across the country up to December 31.

The reserve price of rice has been fixed at Rs 3,100 per quintal (Rs 73 per quintal shall be added to the reserve price for fortified rice) for private parties across the country up to October 31.

During the e-auctions conducted on June 28, July 5 and July 12, a quantity of 13,470 MT, 13,600 MT, and 14,570 MT of wheat was offered and a quantity of 3,260 MT, 3,930 MT and 5,830 MT was sold respectively, Bhati said.

He said as on July 1, the stock position in respect of rice in Karnataka was 6.49 LMT and regarding wheat, it was 0.63 LMT.

The all-India stock position of rice is 253.49 LMT and that of wheat is 301.45 LMT.

No damaged foodgrain stock accrued in the Karnataka region in the last one year, Bhati said.

"For the last one year, a quantity of 1.69 LMT of fortified rice has been issued from the depots under the divisional offices of FCI, Karnataka under various welfare schemes.

"For the last one year, a quantity of 22,24,404 MTs of non-fortified rice has been issued under various government schemes and also for ethanol production," the FCI general manager said.

For 2022-23, a total of 43.85 LMT of foodgrains has been moved into Karnataka, whereas during 2023-24, a total of 6.03 LMT of foodgrains has been moved into the state till June 2023.

Further, a total of 0.05 LMT of foodgrain stocks were moved to the Lakshadweep islands from the Mangalore port by ocean vessels for the PDS beneficiaries during the FY 2022-23, Bhati explained.

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