Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said here on Thursday that the Centre has taken adequate measures, including extension of restrictions on exports of sugar, wheat and rice, to ensure that the prices of these essential items do not increase further and remain stable during the festival season.
Mr. Chopra said the 20% export duty on parboiled rice will remain till March 31, 2024, to maintain adequate availability in the domestic market. He said the measure had led to a decline in export of parboiled rice by 65% in quantity terms and 56% in value terms. The export of broken rice was prohibited and an export duty of 20% was imposed on non-basmati white rice in September last year. Subsequently, export of non-basmati white rice was also prohibited in July this year. “The purpose of extending the duty regime on parboiled rice is to keep a check on price rise of this crucial staple and maintain adequate availability in the domestic market,” Mr. Chopra said.
On wheat, he said, the Centre had decided to offload 50 lakh tonnes under the Open Market Sale Scheme (domestic) through e-auction. The Food Corporation of India sells 2 lakh tonne of wheat every week and so far 25.6 lakh tonne has been offloaded under the scheme. Cooperative agencies NAFED and NCCF as well as Kendriya Bhandar is selling atta in the open market at ₹ 27.50 per kg, he said. “These measures have led to increased availability of wheat in the domestic market and moderated retail and wholesale prices in wheat in the country,” he added. The retail inflation in wheat is about 3.6% in one year, according to the Centre.
Mr. Chopra was confident that edible oil prices will also be stable. “Prices are expected to remain stable during the festival season. We are not anticipating any manner of hike in the festival season. Hopefully, prices should rule stable in the next couple of months,” Mr. Chopra said. The government had also decided to extend the restriction on export of raw, white, refined and organic sugar indefinitely.
