Lok Sabha Question No. 4699 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-29
Subject: Controlling Increase in Food Prices
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: D.K. Suresh

## Government of India Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

## Department of Consumer Affairs

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4699

TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.03.2023

## CONTROLLING INCREASE IN FOOD PRICES

4699. SHRI D.K. SURESH:

## Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  it  is  true  that  the  report  of  United  Nation's  Food  and  Agriculture  Organisation  (UNFAO) indicated that world food prices reached a record high in 2022, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government is taking any steps to control increasing food prices in India in view of the UNFAO report, if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  impose  any  restrictions  on  export  of  grain  to  control  such increasing grain prices; and
- (d) if so, the response of the Government thereto?

## ANSWER

## miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k jkT; ea=h (श्री अश्विनी क ु मार चौबे)

## THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a)                  :    The  Food  Price  Index  of  the  United  Nation's  Food  and  Agriculture  Organisations  (UNFAO) consisting  of  the  average  of  5  commodities  group  indices,  namely,  meat,  dairy,  cereals,  vegetable  oils  and sugar for 2022 was 143.7. (Details may be seen at https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cc2211en)
- (b) to (d) :  Government takes various steps from time to time to augment domestic availability and control increasing food prices. These steps, inter-alia, include releases from the buffer to cool down prices, imposition of stock limits, monitoring of stocks declared by entities to prevent hoarding as also requisite changes in trade policy instruments like rationalization of import duty, changes in import quota, restrictions on exports of the commodity etc.

In  order  to  manage  the  overall  food  security  of  the  country  and  control  the  increasing  prices  of foodgrains the Government amended the export policy of wheat from free to prohibited category on 13th May 2022  for  restricting  export  of  Indian  Durum  Wheat,  and  from  12 th July,  2022  the  export  of  atta  (wheat)  is subjected to the recommendation of Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on export of wheat. Further, the export of broken rice has been banned and export duty of 20% imposed on non-Basmati rice except for parboiled rice w.e.f. 9 th September, 2022. The Government has also decided to offload 50 lakh metric tons of wheat under Open  Market  Disposal  Scheme  (OMSS)  and  sales  to  State  Governments,  Kendriya  Bhandar,  National Consumer Cooperative Federation (NCCF), National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED), State Cooperatives/ Federations etc. to cool down the prices of wheat and atta.

To augment domestic availability and moderate the prices of pulses, import of tur and urad have been kept under 'Free Category' till 31.03.2024 and import duty on masur has been reduced to zero till 31.03.2024. The import duty on tur has also been removed to facilitate smooth and seamless import. To prevent hoarding and restrictive trade practices in respect of tur and urad, the Government has issued a directive to all the States and UTs to enforce stock disclosure by stockholders of tur under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and to also monitor and verify the stocks. Stocks of chana and moong from the Price Support Scheme (PSS) and Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) buffer are continuously released in the market to moderate the prices. Chana from PSS and PSF are also being supplied to the States for welfare schemes at Rs.15/kg discount over the issue price.

In  order  to  stablilise  the  volatility  in  prices  of  onion,  the  Government  procured  a  record  2.51  lakh metric tonnes from Rabi-2022 crop under Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) and released in major consumption centres during September, 2022 and January, 2023.

To control the prices of edible oil, the Government reduced the basic import duty on crude palm oil, crude soyabean oil and crude sunflower oil to zero and Agri-cess on these oils has been brought down to 5%. The basic duty on refined soyabean oil and refined sunflower oil has been reduced to 17.5% from the previous rate  of  32.5%  and  the  basic  duty  on  refined  palm  oils  has  been  reduced  from  17.5%  to  1 2.5%.  The Government has also kept the import of refined palm oils under 'Free' category.

*****