Low Demand Leaves Odisha With Huge Surplus of Parboiled Rice and Storage Challenges

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha is grappling with a massive stockpile of parboiled rice due to a steep decline in demand from other states, leaving rice millers in the state facing severe storage issues. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has revealed that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has significantly reduced lifting of parboiled rice from Odisha because major consuming states — Bihar, West Bengal, and Jharkhand — are now self-sufficient under the decentralised procurement system (DCP).

Odisha Surplus Parboiled Rice Piles Up Amid Low Demand

According to the FCI’s annual action plan for Odisha, the total rice offtake for the kharif marketing season 2024-25 is set at 50 lakh tonnes, against an actual production of 62 lakh tonnes. After meeting the state’s internal consumption and public distribution system (PDS) needs of 24 lakh tonnes, there remains a surplus of 26 lakh tonnes for evacuation by FCI.

So far, the central agency has lifted 14.33 lakh tonnes by the end of July, leaving nearly 12 lakh tonnes with rice millers. The state government has taken 16 lakh tonnes for PDS, while another 8 lakh tonnes are still with millers struggling with storage capacity.

Storage Woes Intensify Due to Odisha Surplus Parboiled Rice

FCI officials said the lifting rate from Odisha has reached 77% of the target until June 2025, with 6.19 lakh tonnes evacuated against a target of 8.9 lakh tonnes. In FCI godowns across Odisha, 3.8 lakh tonnes of parboiled rice and 72,000 tonnes of raw rice are currently stored.

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, along with Deputy CM KV Singh Deo and BJP MPs, recently discussed the issue with Union Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Joshi. On August 4, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also led a delegation of rice millers to press for urgent evacuation. Joshi has assured faster movement of rice from Odisha after August, once stocks from Punjab and Haryana — the country’s largest rice producers — are cleared.

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