Govt may release more grains to bulk users

The government is open to freeing up more grains for bulk consumers, Food Secretary Bhushan Chander Gupta said on Friday, to improve supplies amid huge stockpiles.

Asia's third-largest economy, which is battling inflation mainly stoked by high vegetable and dairy product prices, is sitting on huge stocks of grains, which has been freed up from time to time for bulk consumers and subsidised sale to the poor. India's food price index rose an annual 16.91% at the start of January, data on Thursday showed. This month, the federal government released 1.5 million tonnes of wheat for bulk consumers like flour millers and biscuit markers. "We have enough of stocks and we are open to allocate more to bulk consumers," Gupta said. On January 1, India's grains stocks stood at 47.1 million tonnes against a target of 20 million tonnes, at a time when worst floods in decades shut down a key grains port in Australia and the United States signaled further tightening of domestic and global supplies amid record high food prices. Separately, Farm Secretary PK Basu said onion prices have fallen 16% in the past one week and are expected to decline further on increasing arrivals in the domestic market. India, which has already suspended wheat exports since 2007, banned onion exports last month after prices rose by 83% since June, forcing the government to request imports from neighbouring Pakistan. India's junior farm minister KV Thomas said on Friday onion prices will soon start falling on improved domestic supplies. On Thursday, India's embattled coalition government failed to announce major policy decisions to tackle soaring food prices after days of wrangling, taking only minor measures seen as unlikely to make a major impact.