Food ministry approves reserve price of wheat for open market sale
The food ministry has set the wheat reserve price under OMSS at ₹2,550/quintal for 2025–26, up from ₹2,325 last year. With 35.2 MT in FCI stocks, surplus wheat will be sold to bulk buyers, cooperatives, and under the Bharat brand. Despite record 117.5 MT production, inflation hit 9.94% in May. Rice for ethanol use is now ₹2,320/quintal.
The food ministry has approved a reserve price of wheat under the open market sale (OMSS) to bulk buyers such as flour millers. The wheat will be sourced from the surplus stocks available with the Food Corporation of India (FCI), priced at Rs 2550/quintal for 2025-26, against the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 2425/quintal for the season.
The government had offered wheat at Rs 2325/quintal under OMSS in the last fiscal.
According to a communication from the food ministry, after keeping stocks for public distribution, buffer norms, the quantum of stocks to be offloaded, the timing and considering stocks to be held at a relevant point of time may be decided by FCI in consultation with the ministry,.
“An additional quantity of 2 million tonne (MT) can be used in case of any exigency,” the ministry stated in a communication to FCI.
“The harvesting of wheat has just been completed and presently there is ample stock in the market,” Navneet Chitlangia, president, Roller Flour Millers Federation of India, told FE. He said the market prices of wheat are ruling below the reserve price under OMSS.
At present, FCI has 35.2 MT of wheat stock against the buffer of 27.58 MT for July 1.
Officials said that after meeting the monthly requirement of wheat under the public distribution system of around 1.8 MT till March 31, 2026, there will be sufficient grains for OMSS. FCI may offer to sell 4 – 5 MT of wheat in the open market this fiscal.
The base price of Rs 2550/quintal, excluding transportation, will be applicable till June 30, 2026. The reserve price of wheat would be applicable to cooperatives such as Nafed, NCCF, Kendriya Bhandar for sale under the ‘Bharat’ brand. The sale will happen only through their own stores, mobile vans, e-commerce platforms and big retail chains.
Sources from FCI and state agencies buying 30 MT of wheat under 2025-26 rabi marketing season (April-June) is the highest in the last four years. The government would commence selling of wheat in open market soon. The move is aimed at curbing any possibility of rise in prices.
The corporation had sold 3 MT of wheat to bulk buyers in FY25 under OMSS through a weekly auction against a record 10 MT of grain sold to bulk purchasers in FY24.
The wheat output for the 2024-25 crop year (July-June) is estimated at a a record 117.5 million tonne (MT), higher by 3.7% compared to previous crop year as per the third advance estimate of foodgrain production released by the agriculture ministry.
However the government has imposed stock holding limits for traders, stockists and flour millers despite a robust production
Inflation in wheat in May was 9.94% on year.
Meanwhile, the government hiked the prices of rice offered to distilleries from FCI’s stock for the current ethanol supply year (ESY) 2025-26 (November-October) to Rs 2,320/quintal from the current level of Rs 2,250/quintal. Of the 5.2 MT allocated to distilleries in current ESY, over 1.7 MT have been lifted so far.
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Source : Financial Express
