Lok Sabha Question No. 2802 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-15
Subject: Price Rise of Edible Items
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Ramcharan Bohra, Rahul Kaswan

## Government of India

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2802 TO BE ANSWERED ON 15.12.2021

## PRICE RISE OF EDIBLE ITEMS

## 2802.  SHRI RAMCHARAN BOHRA: SHRI RAHUL KASWAN: (OIH)

## 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 edible items used in daily life is continuously increasing from the last several years including the year 2021 in the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the price of several products have increased sharply during the last three years;
- (d) if so, the names thereof and the maximum consumer selling price thereof;
- (e) whether the Government has contemplated the reasons for this price rise; and
- (f) if so, the details thereof and the reaction 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) to (f) : Prices of essential food commodities are volatile and tend to get affected by several factors, such as mismatch in demand and supply, seasonality, supply chain constraints, artificial shortage created by hoarding and black marketing, rise in international prices etc. Sometimes slight disruptions in supply chain or damage due to heavy rains leads to spike in prices of agri-horticultural commodities. Conversely, bulk  arrival  and  logistics  problems  have  the  potential  of  creating  a  situation  of  glut  in  the  market  and resultant dip in retail prices.

The Government monitors the retail and wholesale prices of 22 essential food commodities submitted by the 179 price monitoring centres that have been set up with Central assistance by State Governments and UT Administrations across the country.

Taking  into  account  price  trends,  the  Government  takes  various  measures  from  time  to  time  to augment domestic availability and stabilize 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 May, 2021 advisories were issued to States/UTs to monitor prices of essential food commodities and  to  ensure  disclosure  of  pulses  stocks  held  by  millers,  importers  and  traders  under  the  Essential Commodities Act, 1955.   Imposition of stock limit  on  all  pulses  except  Moong  was  notified  on  2.7.21. Thereafter, an amended order was issued on 19.7.21 imposing stock limits on four pulses, namely, Tur, Urad, Masur, Chana for a period up to 31.10.2021.

To improve availability and stabilise prices of pulses, the Government has allowed import of Tur, Urad  and  Moong  under  'Free  category'  w.e.f    May  15,  2021  till  October  31,  2021  in  order  to  ensure smooth and seamless imports. The Free regime in respect of Tur and Urad was thereafter extended; the last date for Bill of Lading is December 31, 2021 and for Customs clearance, it is January 31, 2022. This policy measure has been supported with facilitation measures and close monitoring of its implementation by the concerned Departments/organisations. The import policy measures have resulted in substantial increase in import of Tur, Urad and Moong as compared to the corresponding period for the past two years. In order to soften the impact of higher international prices on domestic consumers, the Government reduced the basic import duty on Masur to zero and AIDC (Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess) to 10% from 27 th July, 2021. To augment the availability of pulses in the market, 3 Lakh Metric Ton of Chana stock has been released between June and August, 2021 through open market sales and to stabilise prices, futures trading  in  Chana  has  been  suspended  from  16 th August,  2021.  State  Governments  have  been  supplied pulses from the buffer on an ongoing basis for their nutrition and welfare programmes.

In order to stabilise retail prices of onion, a buffer stock of 2.08 LMT onion has been built in 202122. Open market releases of onion from the buffer have been targeted towards States/Cities where prices are increasing over the previous month and also in source markets to augment the availability in these key mandis  and  thereby  reduce  retail  prices.  States/UTs  have  been  offered  onion  at  Rs.21/kg  ex-storage locations  and  same  has  been  lifted  by  some  States.  Through  these  measures,  the  Government  has  made effective interventions for containing the prices of onion.

In  order  to  improve the  domestic availability of  edible oils and to keep  prices under control, the Government has rationalized the duty structure on edible oils by reducing the effective duties. As per the notification dated 14-10-2021, the total duty on crude palm oil has been reduced from 22.5% to 7.5%, and on crude soyabean oil and sunflower oil it has been reduced from 22.5% to 5%. The basic duty on RBD palmolein  oil,  refined  soyabean  oil  and  refined  sunflower  oil  has  been  reduced  from  32.5%  to  17.5%. Futures trading in mustard oil on NCDEX has been suspended to curb speculative trading and stock limits on edible oils and oilseeds have been imposed for a period upto 31 st March, 2022 to prevent hoarding.

Further,  the  Government  has  issued  advisory  to  States/UTs  to  set  up  the  State-level  Price Stabilisation  Fund  (PSF) corpus with central assistance, and has requested States which have set up the Fund  already,  to  make  appropriate  interventions  for  cooling  down  retail  prices  of    essential  food commodities.

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