NEW DELHI (Commoditiescontrol) – Govt of India should take immediate measures to curb spikes in wheat prices by raising availability of grain in the domestic market, said B K Bansal, President, Roller Flour Mills Federation of India(RFMFI).
Prices of wheat have shot up considerably in the domestic market recent amid falling arrivals which raised the concerns of shortfall of production due to back-to-back drought for second consecutive year in 2016.
Wheat prices remained firm even during the peak arrival season this year that is why, government agencies could not achieve procurement target this year at MSP, said trading sources.
“In one month wheat prices have moved up nearly Rs. 200/100kg due to less availability of grain, hence, government should take all possible steps to increase availability of wheat in the domestic market,” said Bansal.
According to him, currently, middlemen or traders are also reluctant to liquidate their stocks as they have around 30-40 lakh tonnes of wheat in their stocks and they would sell in August September, hence, there is acute shortage of wheat in the market and flour millers are not finding wheat as per their requirement.
“The govt should immediate withdraw duty on wheat import which will give rise to foreign inflows of grain, simultaneously, FCI should start wheat offloading through Open Market Sales Scheme (OMSS) earlier which is scheduled to begin with July 1,” he added.
Presently, FCI has decided to clear stocks of 2015-16 but current year’s stocks should also be liquidated by the agency as previous year’s stocks are not available in its warehouses at some places, according to RFMFI President.
Recently, uptrend in wheat prices has also been observed in the foreign markets, hence, the government should not delay in taking decision on wheat import policy, he further added.
(By Commoditiescontrol Bureau; +91-22-40015533)
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