Hafed to Sell 1 lakh tonne Wheat in Open Market

The Haryana State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation (Hafed), the state's apex cooperative federation, decided on Tuesday to sell 1,00,000 tonnes of wheat in the open market. This comes after the flour milling industry recently met with the food secretary and informed him of the market's dwindling availability of wheat.

The wheat Hafed has decided to sell was obtained at a price higher than the minimum support price (MSP) during commercial operations during the current 2022-23 rabi marketing season.

The central government has taken a number of steps to control food inflation ahead of the Dussehra and Diwali festival seasons. Domestic wheat prices began to rise in July, as a severe heat wave reduced wheat production and unregulated exports depleted domestic stocks.

Wheat flour industry executives raised concerns about the difficulty of obtaining wheat in the open market to keep their mills running at the meeting last week, and asked the government to sell the grain in the open market.

Because wheat prices did not fall despite an indirect message from the central government to traders and stockists following the meeting, the ministry-imposed export restrictions on refined wheat flour and suji on Monday. Whole wheat flour (atta) was already subject to export restrictions. As a result, all wheat products must now be approved for export by a ministerial committee.

Hafed, which used to buy about 50,000 tonnes of wheat through MSP operations, decided to buy 200,000 tonnes more for exports. As a result of the Ukraine-Russia war, the agency was receiving numerous inquiries from Indian and foreign buyers looking to purchase wheat.

Hafed has offered 1,04,268 tonnes of Haryana and Madhya Pradesh origin wheat for sale in the open market from the wheat it had procured for exports. "We will also see what prices buyers are willing to pay," said a Hafed official.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, through its agency the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India, has decided to purchase 2,000 tonnes of imported urad, the price of which has risen by 15% in the last six weeks.