The Department of Food and Public Distribution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is keeping a close watch on the market price of Wheat, the government said on Thursday.
In addition, suitable interventions, as warranted, shall be undertaken to ensure that there is no hoarding by unscrupulous elements and the price remains stable, it said.
During RMS 2024, the department reported production of 112 million MT of wheat. Food Corporation of India (FCI) has procured approximately 266 LMT of wheat till 11.06.2024 during RMS 2024.
After meeting the requirement for Public Distribution System (PDS) and other welfare schemes, which is approximately 184 LMT, sufficient stock of wheat will be available to undertake market interventions, as and when required, the ministry said in a statement.
Buffer stocking norms vary for each quarter of year.
As on 1st January, 2024, the wheat stock was 163.53 LMT against prescribed buffer norm of 138 LMT.
The wheat stock has, at no point of time, dipped below the quarterly buffer stock norms.
In addition, at present, there is no proposal to alter the duty structure on imports of wheat, it said.
As per the recent data, the wheat stocks maintained by the FCI have dropped by 4.7% to 29.91 million tonnes as of June 1 from 31.39 million tonnes on the corresponding date last year.