Rice Storage Crisis Expected to Worsen Next Marketing Season

26-Aug-2025 04:24 PM

New Delhi. The new marketing season for government procurement of paddy for the year 2025-26 is going to start from October, while the godowns and warehouses of Food Corporation of India (FCI) and its allied agencies are already full of rice stock. In the northern region states - Punjab,

Haryana and Uttar Pradesh etc., the government will procure paddy from farmers at the minimum support price (MSP) and it will be allotted to rice millers for custom milling and the millers will supply rice to the Food Corporation in return, due to which there will not be enough free space in the warehouses for safe storage.

According to the available data, during April-August 2025, Food Corporation of India (FCI) supplied 19.70 lakh tonnes of rice for ethanol production, 14.10 lakh tonnes under the social welfare scheme of the states, 7.20 lakh tonnes under OMSS and 60 thousand tonnes of rice for Bharat Rice.

There is a good demand for rice in the open market sale scheme, due to which its total sale is expected to be more than last year. During the financial year 2024-25, a quota of 46.30 lakh tonnes of rice was allocated for provincial level social welfare scheme, 19.60 lakh tonnes for open market sale scheme and 23 lakh tonnes for ethanol production.

In comparison, only 15.40 lakh tonnes of rice was supplied to bulk buyers through various schemes during the financial year 2023-24. Despite this, the government stock of rice is increasing.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, food grains are distributed free of cost to 81 crore people of the country at the rate of 5 kg per month.

The period of free ration distribution scheme has been extended till the end of the year 2028. The economic cost of government rice is estimated to increase to Rs 41.73 per kg in the current financial year, which also includes MSP, storage, transportation and other expenses. Paddy transplantation has now reached its final stage.