Here is a reality check on how far price rise of rice and dal is playing up in Odisha. Bhubaneswar now has been the costliest city vis-a-vis its major counterparts in the country if prices of rice and dal are any indication.
Not only is the State capital, even Cuttack, Sambalpur and Rourkela are not far behind. These top-tier cities come out costlier than their counterparts in the country at least on the front of essential food items like rice and dal. However, Delhi remains by far costlier than the top-four costly cities in the State on this front.
In the month of May, prices of dal crossed past `100 per kg in all the four cities in Odisha. A comparative analysis of price behaviour of these two staple diets across the nation reveals that only Delhi and Raipur have recorded such a high price rate of over `100 per kg for arhar dal. The prices in May 2014 were mere `65 per kg in three cities except Cuttack where the price was `70 per kg almost at par with the national average. But in May 2015, the prices of dal in Odisha overshot the national average of around `88 per kg to touch `100. This is when no significant rise was noticed in wholesale prices of the commodity between May 2014 and May 2015.
The data available with State Agriculture Produces Marketing Committees (APMCs) shows the wholesale prices of dal per quintal in May 2014 were `6,446 in Odisha against that of ` 7,000 in May 2015 — showing a spike of around 9 per cent only. But at retail level, the prices saw a jump of around 40 per cent. The biggest factor behind the spurt is against the per day average arrivals. In May 2014 it was at around 52 tonnes, while the per day average arrival trickled down in May 2015 to mere 0.5 to 1 tonnes only thereby suggesting a decline of around 53 per cent, though the All Odisha Traders’ Association general secretary Sudhakar Panda ruled out supply side constraints.
Now, a look into the prices of main diet rice reveals that price rate in all the four cities in the State hovers at around `25 per kg in the month of May. In contrast, the rate in Raipur is at around `22 only. Though the rate of rice in Ranchi is `28, dal prices in May there is only `91 per kg. However, if the price variation of rice per kg among rice consuming States is taken into account, then Odisha’s four cities have recorded a rise of around 4 per cent since January 2014. In contrast, Patna and Ranchi have recorded a fall of over 13 per cent over the time-period. Raipur and Vishakapatnam maintained status quo, whereas Vizayawada recorded a similar rise in prices. Again, data shows, supply side constraint fuelled up the retail prices in Odisha.
Against per day average arrivals of around 65 tonnes of rice in May 2014, it trickled down to around 16-18 tonnes in May 2015. Result: Wholesale prices rose by 6 per cent between May 2014 and May 2015.
