New Delhi: Amid concerns over up to 62 per cent spike in domestic edible oil prices, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey discussed Monday in detail the reasons for the ‘abnormal rise’. He asked the states and industry stakeholders to take measures to soften the prices of edible oil. Pandey also said in the meeting that suggestions offered by stakeholders would help the government to arrive at ‘wholesome solutions’. It will ensure edible oils are available at reasonable rates to consumers.
Industry body Central Organisation of Oil Industry and Trade (COOIT) chairman Suresh Nagpal was present in the meeting. He suggested the government should not reduce import duty or remove agri cess from edible oils. He said it will discourage farmers for forthcoming kharif sowing. “Instead the government should take decisions to remove five per cent GST on mustard seed and mustard oil,” Nagpal said after the meeting Monday.
As per the government data, the retail prices of edible oils have risen substantially in a year. It is adding woes to consumers already reeling under the economic distress induced by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“First-of-its-kind meeting (was) held to discuss ways and means to address the issue of abnormal price increase of edible oil,” an official statement said.
There was a need to hold the meeting, the secretary said. It was because the Centre was ‘concerned about more than proportionate rise in the prices of edible oil in India as compared with the rise in international prices of edible oil during the last few months’.
Mishra said India’s 60 per cent dependency on imports is not good for the growth of the domestic edible oil industry. Production and local availability of oilseeds in India is below the domestic edible oil demand. A big volume of edible oil is imported each year. Changes in global prices of edible oil make an impact on domestic price of edible oil, Mishra pointed out.
“There is a need to strike a balance between short-term measures to keep prices in check and long-term measure of keeping India self-sufficient in edible oil production,” an official statement quoted Pandey saying in the meeting. “All the states and stakeholders from the side of business must take all possible steps to soften the prices,” Mishra added.
According to the government data, retail prices of palm oil rose by 62.35 per cent to Rs 138/kg Monday from Rs 85/kg in the year-ago period. Similarly, sunflower oil rose 59 per cent to Rs 175 from Rs 110/kg, vanaspati prices increased by 56 per cent to Rs 140/kg from Rs 90/kg and soya oil price rose by 55 per cent to Rs 155/kg from Rs 100/kg in the same period.
Groundnut oil prices also showed increased of 35.33 per cent to Rs 180/kg May 24 from Rs 133/kg in the year-ago period, while that of mustard oil rates rose 48 per cent to Rs 170/kg from Rs 115/kg in the said period, the data showed.
