The Food Corporation of India's (FCI) Tamil Nadu regional office will release 85,000 tonnes of wheat in the open market through e-auction to bring down prices. This is part of a nation-wide initiative to rein in prices that had gradually risen over the last few months.
The prices of wheat being e-auctioned is at least ₹10 less per kg than what is being currently available. P. Muthumaran, General Manager, FCI, T.N. region, said the Tamil Nadu Roller Flour Mills Association’s requirement alone would be 75,000 tonnes per month.
"The tenders would be called for every Friday till March so that the prices will stabilise," he said in a release here. The FCI, T.N. region, which includes Puducherry, has 25 depots under its purview. The e-auctioning is being allowed for those flour mills, empanelled bulk buyers, traders and manufacturers of wheat products who have registered with the FCI. The minimum quantity that one can buy via online auction is 10 tonnes and maximum quantity is 3,000 tonnes.
Though Tamil Nadu is not a major wheat consumer, according to estimates for every 10 kg of rice consumed, 1 kg of wheat based products are consumed.
D. Vijay Anand, president, Tamil Nadu Roller Flour Millers Association, said wheat and maida are used to make noodles, semiya, rava, bread and biscuits. “We hope this intervention will bring down prices by ₹3-4 per kg in the market. The increase in prices was caused by the wheat crop being affected by adverse weather conditions and also due to export of available wheat. The Government of India imposed a blanket ban on wheat exports in May last year. It has very recently decided to release wheat through open market sales scheme through e-auctioning. This will improve availability and bring down prices in the market,” he added.
