Centre lifts MEP on onions, tightens stock holding limit on wheat
In a significant move, the Central government lifted the minimum export price (MEP) of $550 per tonne on onions but tightened the stock holding limit on wheat.
In a move to moderate the price of Wheat and ensure easy availability in the market, the Centre on Tuesday held talks with food secretaries of states.
In the course of the meeting, the Wheat Stock Limit Order notified on 12 June and its compliance were discussed in detail.
The meeting came a day after the Centre imposed stock limits on wheat applicable to Wholesalers/Traders, Retailers, Big Chain Retailers and Processors. It also decided to offload wheat and rice under the Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic) – OMSS (D). The measures were aimed at cooling down the prices and preventing hoarding and speculation.
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The Centre has asked states to obtain disclosures of stock of wheat with the Wholesalers/Traders, Retailers, Big Chain Retailers and Processors to check the unfair practices of any kind and to bring transparency to the availability of Wheat.
A User Manual regarding submitting the stock has also been shared with State Government for ease of filling up the data on the portal (https://evegoils.nic.in/wsp/login) of the Department of Food and Public Distribution. In case the stocks held by them are higher than the prescribed limit then they have to bring the same to the prescribed stock limits within 30 days of the issue of this notification.
The states/UTs have been directed to ensure that all relevant entities subject to the stock limits declare and update the stock position of Wheat regularly every Friday on the said portal and to immediately issue instructions for strict compliance of the stock limit as per Central order date 12.06.2023. Access to the above portal shall be given to the above entities to make disclosure of stocks and State Government Authorities will have access to monitoring of stocks disclosed on the portal.
During the meeting, Secretary of Food and Public Distribution Sanjeev Chopra also informed the participants about the Centre’s decision to offload the Wheat (15 LMT of Wheat in the first phase) and Rice under OMSS (D) which are further expected to cool down the rising price of wheat and rice along with the products derived from them. These steps are taken to ensure consumers get the food grains like Wheat and Rice at an affordable price.
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