Lok Sabha Question No. 15 (STARRED), answered on 2022-12-07
Subject: Increase in Prices of Commodities
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Ramya  Haridas

## Government of India

## Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs

## LOK  SABHA

STARRED QUESTION NO. *15

TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.12.2022

## INCREASE IN PRICES OF COMMODITIES

## *15. MS. RAMYA HARIDAS:

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  the prices of commodities  including foodgrains, pulses, tomato  and edible oils, particularly mustard oil have increased sharply resulting in consumer inflation in recent months;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and
- (c) the  steps  taken  or  proposed  to  be  taken  by  the  Government  to  control  inflation  along  with  the advisories issued to States to check the stock limit of these items by the traders beyond certain capacity?

## ANSWER

## miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k ea=h ¼Jh ih;w"k xks;y½

THE MINISTER OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a) to (c)  :   A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT  REFERRED  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (c)  OF  LOK  SABHA  STARRED QUESTION NO.*15 FOR 07.12.2022 REGARDING INCREASE IN PRICES OF COMMODITIES.

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- (a) & (b) : The price  trends  in  respect  of  foodgrains  namely  rice  and  wheat;  pulses  namely  tur  dal, urad dal, moong dal, gram dal and masur  dal; edible oils namely groundnut oil, mustard oil, vanaspati, soya oil, sunflower oil and palm oil; and vegetables namely potato, tomato and onion in the past three months and the month-on-month percentage variations in the prices are given at Annexure . The all-India average  retail  prices  of  the  aforementioned  commodities  have  not  exhibited  any  sharp  and  consistent increase  in  recent  months.  The  Consumer  Food  Price  Inflation  (CFPI)  has  declined  from  8.60  %  in September, 2022 to 7.01 % in October, 2022.
- (c) : Government takes  various  measures  from  time  to  time  to  augment  domestic  availability and stabilize the prices of essential food commodities. 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 moderate prices of foodgrains the Government amended the export policy of wheat from free to prohibited category on 13 th  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.

To augment domestic availability and moderate the prices of pulses, import of tur and urad have been kept under 'Free Category' till 31.03.2023 and basic import duty on masur has been reduced to zero w.e.f. 27.07.2021, and the Agri-cess on masur import reduced to zero from 13.02.2022 till 31.03.2023. To prevent hoarding and restrictive trade practices in respect of tur the Government on 12 th August,  2022 issued  a  directive  to  all  the  States  and  UTs  to  enforce  stock  disclosure  by  stockholders  of  tur  under Section 3(2)(h) and 3(2)(i) of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and to also monitor and verify the stocks.

In order to stabilise the prices of onion, the Government procured a record 2.51 lakh metric tonnes of onion for the Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) buffer stock in current year (2022-23). Targeted disposal of the stocks to major consumption centres to moderate the prices has commenced from September, 2022. Apart from market disposal, States and Government/cooperative retail agencies have been offered onion at a discounted rate of Rs.8/- kg for making available to the retail consumers. A total of 1.53 lakh MT of onion from the buffer has been released till 30.11.2022.

To control the prices of edible oil, the Government reduced the basic duty on crude palm oil, crude soyabean oil and crude sunflower oil from 2.5% to Nil, 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 12.5%. The Government has also extended the free import of refined palm oils for a period upto 31.12.2022. In addition to these, the Government has imposed stock limits on edible oils and oilseeds for a period up to 31 st December 2022. Thereafter, the Government exempted the big chain retails and wholesalers of edible oil companies from the stock limit order with effect from 2 nd November 2022 in order to make the supply chain  seamless  amid  easing  global  edible  oil  prices.  The  Government  has  also  issued  Notification    for allocation  of  Tariff  Rate  Quota  (TRQ)  for  import  of  20  LMT  of  Crude  Soyabean  Oil  and  20  LMT  of Crude Sunflower Oil for the financial year 2022-23 and 2023-24 at zero import duty and zero Agri-cess.

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ANNEXURE  REFERRED  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  &  (b)  OF  LOK  SABHA  STARRED QUESTION NO.*15 FOR 07.12.2022 REGARDING INCREASE IN PRICES OF COMMODITIES.

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Daily all-India average retail prices of foodgrains, pulses, edible oils and vegetables (Rs./kg.) as on 06.12.2022.

| Sl No.   |               | Price as on 06.12.22   | 1 Month back as on 06.11.22   | 2 months ago as on 06.10.22   | 3 months ago as on 06.09.22   | %Variation over   | %Variation over   | %Variation over   |
|----------|---------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
| Sl No.   | Item          | Price as on 06.12.22   | 1 Month back as on 06.11.22   | 2 months ago as on 06.10.22   | 3 months ago as on 06.09.22   | 1 month back      | 2 months back     | 3 months back     |
| 1        | Rice          | 38.02                  | 37.76                         | 38.12                         | 38.02                         | 0.69              | -0.26             | 0                 |
| 2        | Wheat         | 31.92                  | 30.46                         | 30.93                         | 31.16                         | 4.79              | 3.2               | 2.44              |
| 3        | Gram Dal      | 73.75                  | 70.86                         | 73.46                         | 74.17                         | 4.08              | 0.39              | -0.57             |
| 4        | Tur/Arhar Dal | 112.82                 | 110.92                        | 111.95                        | 111.61                        | 1.71              | 0.78              | 1.08              |
| 5        | Urad Dal      | 108.8                  | 106.46                        | 109.21                        | 109.15                        | 2.2               | -0.38             | -0.32             |
| 6        | Moong Dal     | 104.18                 | 101.27                        | 103.23                        | 103.1                         | 2.87              | 0.92              | 1.05              |
| 7        | Masoor Dal    | 95.5                   | 93.76                         | 95.91                         | 98.12                         | 1.86              | -0.43             | -2.67             |
| 8        | Groundnut Oil | 189.73                 | 188.13                        | 188.71                        | 189.03                        | 0.85              | 0.54              | 0.37              |
| 9        | Mustard Oil   | 170.12                 | 169.28                        | 167.93                        | 172.02                        | 0.5               | 1.3               | -1.1              |
| 10       | Vanaspati     | 143.69                 | 141.01                        | 148.3                         | 152.94                        | 1.9               | -3.11             | -6.05             |
| 11       | Soya Oil      | 154.4                  | 152.68                        | 149.45                        | 155.39                        | 1.13              | 3.31              | -0.64             |
| 12       | Sunflower Oil | 169.29                 | 167.56                        | 167.05                        | 175.91                        | 1.03              | 1.34              | -3.76             |
| 13       | Palm Oil      | 116.38                 | 116.95                        | 119.1                         | 131.23                        | -0.49             | -2.28             | -11.32            |
| 14       | Potato        | 27.2                   | 28.31                         | 28.01                         | 28.81                         | -3.92             | -2.89             | -5.59             |
| 15       | Onion         | 29.18                  | 30.23                         | 26                            | 26.02                         | -3.47             | 12.23             | 12.14             |
| 16       | Tomato        | 33.23                  | 40.88                         | 44.77                         | 38.11                         | -18.71            | -25.78            | -12.81            |

Source: State Food and Civil Supplies department.

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