No relief for consumers as wheat flour prices singes pockets, 13% price increase in last 12 months

New Delhi: The average price of wheat flour in retail markets stood at Rs 32.91 per kilogram Monday. It is nearly a 13 per cent increase compared to the year-ago period, according to official data. The all-India average retail price of wheat flour or atta was Rs 29.14 per kg May 8, 2021.

The data from the Consumer Affairs Ministry showed that the maximum price of atta was Rs 59 per kg, minimum price was Rs 22 per kg and modal price Rs 28 per kg Monday. On May 8, 2021, the maximum price was Rs 52 per kg, minimum price was Rs 21 per kg and modal price was Rs 24 per kg.

Atta prices Monday stood at Rs 49 per kg in Mumbai, Rs 34 per kg in Chennai, Rs 29 per kg in Kolkata and Rs 27 per kg in Delhi.

The ministry monitors prices for 22 essential commodities – Rice, Wheat, Atta, Gram Dal, Tur (Arhar) Dal, Urad Dal , Moong Dal, Masur Dal, Sugar, Gur, Groundnut Oil, Mustard Oil, Vanaspati, Sunflower Oil, Soya Oil, Palm Oil, Tea, Milk, Potato, Onion, Tomato and Salt). Data for these commodities are collected from 167 market centres spread across India.

Meanwhile, the government has revised downwards the estimate for wheat production by 5.7 per cent to 105 million tonne in the 2021-22 crop year ending June from the earlier projection of 111.32 million tonne, as the crop productivity has been affected due to the early onset of summer. India’s wheat production stood at 109.59 million tonne in the 2020-21 crop year (July-June).

The Centre’s wheat procurement is set to decline by more than half to 19.5 million tonne in the the current Rabi marketing year amid higher exports and likely fall in output, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said last week.

Earlier, the government had fixed the wheat procurement target at 44.4 million tonne for the 2022-23 marketing year as against an all-time high of 433.44 lakh tonne in the previous marketing year. The Rabi marketing season runs from April to March but the bulk procurement ends by June. Pandey however, had asserted there won’t be any concern for meeting the domestic demand under the public distribution system (PDS).

Pandey had also ruled out the possibility of imposing any curbs on wheat exports as farmers are getting higher than the minimum support price (MSP) for their produce.

Wheat exports stood at a record seven million tonne in the 2021-22 fiscal.