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NEW DELHI: The government on Friday stepped up measures to check the prices of food items and increase their availability as it removed all restrictions for import of yellow peas till March 2024 and announced a 50% reduction in the stock of wheat that wholesalers, retailers and big chains can hold at any given time. It also announced its plan to offload additional 25 million tonnes of FCI wheat in the open market.
With the latest decision, import of almost all pulses is free and this comes at a time amid concerns over the fall in tur dal production and progressive sowing of chana during the rabi season compared to last year, though the government is “comfortable” with the stock of chana, moong and masur.The government also imposed a ban on onion export till March 2024.
Till now the import of yellow peas was restricted and Rs 200 per kg was the minimum import price (MIP), and shipments were allowed only through Kolkata port. There has been no import since 2019 due to high import prices.
As per a finance ministry notification, now yellow peas has been put under “free category” without MIP and port restriction has also been removed.
On the wheat front, Union food secretary Sanajeev Chopra said the stock limit that traders can hold has been revised downwards “to prevent artificial scarcity and curb hoarding” and it will be applicable with immediate effect. He said retailers can now hold 5 tonne of wheat stock against the earlier norm of 10 tonne and similarly, the wholesalers can keep a maximum of 1,000 tonne against the earlier rule of 2,000 tonne. In case of processors, they can hold 70% of monthly installed capacity multiplied by the remaining months of 2023-24.
The traders will get 30 days to reduce the stock to the revised limits.
Chopra said in addition to the earlier allocation of 101 lakh tonne of wheat from FCI stock for sale in the open market, the government is ready to offload an additional 25 lakh tonne to bulk consumers during January-March 2024, to boost domestic supply and check price rise. So far 44.6 lakh tonne of wheat has been sold by the FCI to processors through weekly e-auctions.
The secretary also said that the government has decided to sell four lakh tonne of wheat flour under “Bharat Atta” being sold by government cooperatives at Rs 27.5 per kg.
With the latest decision, import of almost all pulses is free and this comes at a time amid concerns over the fall in tur dal production and progressive sowing of chana during the rabi season compared to last year, though the government is “comfortable” with the stock of chana, moong and masur.The government also imposed a ban on onion export till March 2024.
Till now the import of yellow peas was restricted and Rs 200 per kg was the minimum import price (MIP), and shipments were allowed only through Kolkata port. There has been no import since 2019 due to high import prices.
As per a finance ministry notification, now yellow peas has been put under “free category” without MIP and port restriction has also been removed.
On the wheat front, Union food secretary Sanajeev Chopra said the stock limit that traders can hold has been revised downwards “to prevent artificial scarcity and curb hoarding” and it will be applicable with immediate effect. He said retailers can now hold 5 tonne of wheat stock against the earlier norm of 10 tonne and similarly, the wholesalers can keep a maximum of 1,000 tonne against the earlier rule of 2,000 tonne. In case of processors, they can hold 70% of monthly installed capacity multiplied by the remaining months of 2023-24.
The traders will get 30 days to reduce the stock to the revised limits.
Chopra said in addition to the earlier allocation of 101 lakh tonne of wheat from FCI stock for sale in the open market, the government is ready to offload an additional 25 lakh tonne to bulk consumers during January-March 2024, to boost domestic supply and check price rise. So far 44.6 lakh tonne of wheat has been sold by the FCI to processors through weekly e-auctions.
The secretary also said that the government has decided to sell four lakh tonne of wheat flour under “Bharat Atta” being sold by government cooperatives at Rs 27.5 per kg.
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