Govt offloads 5.6 MT of rice to bulk buyers

THE GOVERNMENT'S CENTRAL-POOL of rice stocks continue to surge despite record offloading of grain through open market sales, liberal allocations to states, allocation towards ethanol production and Bharat rice initiative in the current fiscal. Open mark sales in FY26 have surpassed a record 5.6 million tonne (MT), higher than the FY25 sale of 4.63 MT.

- SANDIP DAS

Sources said that the government may offload about 6 to 7 MT of rice this fiscal from its surplus stocks of Food Corporation of India (FCI).

The current central pool of stock is more than 45 MT, over 3.5 times the buffer of 10.25 MT, as of October 1.

Officials said the current stock with FCI includes about 10 MT of grain yet to be received from millers.

During April 1 - October 8 (2025-26), FCI supplied 2.46 MT for ethanol production, 2.06 MT to states’ social welfare schemes, 1.03 MT for e-auction and 0.06 MT for Bharat rice initiative.

In FY25, the FCI had allocated 4.63 MT of rice to the states' social welfare scheme (1.12 MT), open market sale scheme (1.96 MT) and ethanol production (2.3 MT).

In FY24 and FY23, FCI had sold 1.54 MT and 1.78 MT of rice, respectively, offloaded through various schemes to bulk buyers.