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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Granaries full, but cereal prices up 20% -Surojit Gupta & Sidhartha

Granaries full, but cereal prices up 20% -Surojit Gupta & Sidhartha

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published Published on Mar 16, 2013   modified Modified on Mar 16, 2013
-The Times of India

The Centre is blaming state governments for a near 20% rise in cereal prices despite overflowing granaries that have record stocks, and suspects that hoarding and high state levies are causing the spike.

The latest wholesale price inflation data showed that the price increase in this segment was estimated at over 19%. According to the consumer price index, inflation is of the order of 17%. Last month, Food Corporation of India godowns had over 66 million tonnes of foodgrains despite exports being made more liberal to offload stocks.

Simple economics would tell you that such large stocks, more than double the buffer norms, would result in prices crashing in the market.

"There is an unexplained increase in the price of cereals. And, if we have large stocks available and government has been on a regular basis releasing the stocks in the market, then what is the reason for this increase? Obviously, there is at some level a lot of hoarding taking place, which is squarely in the jurisdiction of the state governments," economic affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram told TOI.

Although he did not elaborate further, he said states need to ensure that there were no bottlenecks in the last mile connectivity between the consumer and the distribution system.

A top agriculture ministry official too blamed states but for a different reason, saying states such as Punjab were responsible for the rise as well since they levied over 10% tax on grains. "You can't levy more than 5% tax on food. It does not make sense," he added.

Experts said the excess stock held by Food Corporation of India (FCI) was a key reason behind the sharp spike in cereal prices.

"The fact is holding this kind of huge stocks is equal to hoarding. Excessive procurement and too little release of stocks will only give rise to very high prices," said Pronob Sen, chairman of the National Statistical Commission.

"State governments have very little role as the stocks are held by the Food Corporation of India (FCI). There is complete mismanagement of the open market operations. The way out is more aggressive open market operations by the FCI," Sen said.

Madan Sabnavis, economist at Care ratings, said the increase in minimum support price, which for some commodities has doubled in five years, was also to blame along with the "hoarding by FCI".

A part of the blame also lies with the way the food ministry and state governments have managed the situation resulting in the private sector being driven out of the market. States such as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are offering bonus over the minimum support price that pushes up the cost further. "The entire grain trade has been nationalized by the high minimum support price and the inefficient management is causing this," the agriculture ministry official said.

Last month, FCI had 35 million tonnes of rice and over 30 tonnes of wheat in its warehouses and with procurement for wheat set to begin, the stocks are projected to hit an all-time high of 92-93 million tonnes by the end of June, beating last year's record of 82 million tonnes.

The Times of India, 16 March, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Granaries-full-but-cereal-prices-up-20/articleshow/18997573.cms


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