Centre tightens wheat stock limits amid persistent price pressures

By Sanjeeb Mukherjee

The Central government on Thursday further tightened the stock holding limits on wheat as prices showed little signs of ebbing despite increased liquidation of inventories.

According to the new limits, which will be in force till 31st March 2025, a trader or wholesaler can now hold just 250 tonnes of wheat at any given point of time while the same till now was 1,000 tonnes, while a retailer can hold up to 4 tonnes of wheat in each retail outlet which earlier was five tonnes.

The tightening has been done under the powers given to the Central government under the Essential Commodities Act. Meanwhile, in a related development, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has called a high-level meeting of senior officials on Friday to discuss whether red chillies can be purchased under the Centre’s Market Intervention Scheme (MIS). The meeting will also discuss an export strategy for red chillies.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister M Chandra Babu Naidu calling upon Chouhan to discuss the plight of red chilli farmers of the state. Red chilli prices have dropped sharply due to excess production.

Chouhan, according to an official statement, is believed to have told the chief minister that the Centre’s MIS for perishables sets in when prices fall 10 per cent below the previous year.

To which Naidu is believed to have told that the price fall this year is much more than 10 per cent in red chillies.

Andhra Pradesh is the country’s largest red chilli producing state with Guntur being the hub of the trade.

This article has been republished from The Business Standard.