New Delhi, Mar 16 (IANS): With a view to control the price of wheat and atta, Food Corporation of India (FCI) conducted the sixth e-auction. Total quantity of 10.69 LMT wheat was offered from 611 depots across 23 regions of FCI and 4.91 LMT of wheat was sold to 970 bidders.

In the sixth e-auction, against the all India weighted average reserve price of Rs 2140.46/qtl, weighted average selling price received was Rs 2214.32/qtl. In the sixth e-auction, quantities ranging from 100 to 499 MT had maximum demand followed by quantities of 500-999 MT followed by 50-100 MT quantity bracket.

As per the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, the first auction was conducted on February 1-2, 2023 in which 9.13 Lakh MT was sold to 1016 bidders at weighted average price of Rs 2474/qtl. A quantity of 3.85 LMT was sold in the second auction on February 15, 2023 to 1060 bidders at weighted average price of Rs 2338/qtl, 5.07 LMT sold to 875 successful bidders during the third e-auction saw a weighted average price of Rs 2173/quintal and 5.40 LMT sold to 1049 successful bidders during the fourth e-auction at a weighted average of Rs 2193.82/qtl.

In the fifth e-auction, 5.39 LMT was sold to 1248 bidders at weighted average price of Rs 2197.91/qtl.

Till fifth e-auction, 28.86 LMT wheat stock has been sold against which 23.30 LMT has been lifted as on March 14, 2023.

The Consumer Affairs Ministry said that after the sixth e-auction, the cumulative sale of wheat under Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic) has touched 33.77 LMT against the overall allocation of 45 LMT. The sale has brought significant effect in cooling down the price of wheat and atta all over the country which is likely to remain stabilised with the future tenders for open sale of wheat under OMSS (D).