In a move to check hoarding of edible oils and oilseeds, the Centre on Friday held a meeting with State Governments officials to take stock of the rising prices of edible oils despite lowering the import duty. The Government has recently asked State Governments for disclosures of stocks of edible oils by traders , millers, refiners and stockists and monitoring the situation. Stockists ,and sellers would also need to display the prices of edible oil at the premises.
In a statement, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said that the production of oilseeds is expected to increase in the coming Rabi season. This is also expected to bring down the prices of edible oils.
In an interaction, the Secretary said that the production and availability of Soya seeds will improve from the Kharif season beginning October and other oilseeds as well by the coming Rabi season. This would also bring the prices of edible oils down. Stockists and Millers would also need to display the prices of edible oil at the premises,” an official statement added.
In a bid to check hoarding as well as contain edible oil prices, the Centre on Thursday asked state governments to gather details about stocks of edible oils and oilseeds from traders, millers, refiners and other stockists. The Union Consumer Affairs Ministry has asked the state governments to issue a directive in this regard under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
“Recently, despite sudden reduction in the import duty (of edible oils), a sudden spurt in prices of edible oils/ oilseeds has been observed which may be due to alleged hoarding of it by the stockholders,” the ministry said in a letter to the states.
The average retail prices of six edible oils — palm oil, sunflower, soya oil, groundnut, mustard and vanaspati — have increased in the range of 20 to 50 per cent in the last one year, according to official data. India meets 60 per cent of its edible oil demand through imports.