Govt aims to offload a record 10 MT of rice in open market
The government plans to sell over 10 million tonnes of surplus rice this fiscal, supported by additional allocation for ethanol production. Despite record offloading, FCI stocks remain high at over 44 million tonnes, raising storage and subsidy concerns. Reserve prices have been revised, and wheat sales under OMSS will also begin soon.
With additional grain allocated for the ethanol blending programme in the 2025-26 season (November-October), the government is aiming to offload a record 10 million tonne (MT) of rice in the market in the current fiscal from its surplus stock.
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has offloaded 6.1 MT of rice through open market sale, liberal allocations to states, and for ethanol manufacturing and Bharat rice initiative so far in the current fiscal.
Sources told FE an additional 1.75 MT of rice has been allocated for the ethanol units from November 1. Overall sales of surplus rice in FY26 is expected to cross 10 MT in FY26. “Overall surplus rice stocks sold in the market at present have already at record level,” an official said.
In FY25, the FCI had allocated 4.63 MT of rice to the state’s social welfare scheme (1.12 MT), open market sale scheme (1.96 MT) and ethanol manufacturing (2.3 MT).
In FY24 and FY23, FCI had sold 1.54 MT and 1.78 MT of rice respectively offloaded through various schemes to bulk buyers.
However, the government’s central-pool rice stocks continue to surge despite record sales of surplus grain in the market. The current central pool stock is over 44 MT, over 3 times the buffer of 10.25 MT for October 1.
Officials said the current stock with FCI includes about 10 MT of grain yet to be received from millers.
Sources said that if rice stocks are not brought down to a comfortable level, the carrying cost of grain will steadily rise and may lead to a spike in food subsidy expenses.
While the government has estimated food subsidy at Rs 2.03 lakh crore in FY25, actual subsidy bills could rise by Rs 22,000 crore due to the rising cost of holding surplus grains far in excess.
High procurement and robust crop output are the reasons for the stocks being high. Annually the FCI and state agencies purchase around 52 MT to 53 MT of rice from farmers under minimum support price (MSP) while the corporation supplies around 36 to 38 MT of rice for the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) or free ration scheme.
Meanwhile, the government has increased reserve price of rice to Rs 23.20/quintal, a marginal increase from Rs 2250/quintal for ethanol units earlier, while the grian will be continued to be supplied Rs 2250/quintal (states), Rs 2400/quintal (Bharat rice) and Rs 2800/quintal (for bulk purchase on e-auction) from November 1, 2025.
Sale of wheat under OMSS to commence soon
Sources said the FCI will be commencing selling wheat under OMSS soon while the corporation has allocated 3 MT to be sold during current fiscal. The price of OMSS wheat sell would be Rs 2550/quintal as the base price for FY26.
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Source : Financial Express
