NEW DELHI, INDIA — Traders and private purchasers response to the Food Corporation of India’s (FCI) efforts to sell excess rice and wheat through bulk purchases has been lukewarm, according to reports by the Financial Express.

In the first weekly auction for rice under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) the week of April 6-10, bids for only 150 tonnes were received by FCI while the corporation goal is to sell around 2 million tonnes in the market during 2015-16.

On April 1, FCI has rice stocks of 23.7 million tonnes — as per buffer stock norms, the corporation should hold around 13.5 million tonnes of rice.