Centre Plans to Offload 100 Lakh Tonnes of Rice in Open Market

05-Nov-2025 12:11 PM

New Delhi. With the additional allocation of food grains (rice) for the 2025-26 season (November-October) for the ethanol blending program, the government intends to disgorge a record 100 lakh tonnes of rice from its surplus stocks for sale in the open market during the current financial year.

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has disgorged 6.1 million tonnes of rice under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS), while liberally allocating rice to states and making stocks available to ethanol manufacturers. In addition, stocks were made available for the sale of Bharat Brand Rice.

Across all the above items, only 6.1 lakh tonnes of rice was disgorged during the current financial year, despite the Food Corporation having a large surplus stock of this crucial food grain, and now vigorous procurement of Kharif paddy has also begun.

According to official sources, an additional quota of 1.75 million tons of rice has been allocated for ethanol producers starting November 1, 2025. Total rice sales from the central pool are expected to exceed 10 million tons during the entire fiscal year 2025-26.

While the rice sales (6.1 million tons) so far in the market are a record, the government's stock is so large that it urgently needs to sell more.

The area under paddy cultivation has reached new record levels during the Kharif season, and government procurement is increasing significantly, which could pose a serious challenge to the safe storage of rice in the coming months.

During the fiscal year 2024-25, the government allocated a total of 4.63 million tons of rice. This included 2.3 million tons for ethanol producers, 1.96 million tons for the Open Market Sale Scheme, and 1.12 million tons for state social welfare schemes. The sale of government rice had decreased significantly in the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25.