Centre may go in for open market sale of wheat

Gargi Parsai Buoyed by the production of 78 million tonnes of wheat this rabi and a procurement of 222 lakh tonnes for the Public Distribution System, the government may intervene in the market with open sale of wheat to contain prices. Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said here that the government had set aside about three million tonnes of wheat for the open market sale in those States where the wheat prices continue to remain high. The pricemade available thus, to augment supplies, would be fixed at lower than the market rate, the Minister said.