Edible oil prices rise 20% in January, says official data

The prices of edible oils rose 20 per cent last month. Edible oil prices have been on an ascending path for a long period of time.

Business Desk, ETV Bharat: The prices of edible oils went up by nearly 20 per cent last month, reveals the government data.

Releasing the Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers for January, the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation Friday said that the prices of ‘oils and fats’ as a whole has gone up by 19.71 per cent in comparison to the prices a year ago period.

In fact, the prices of ‘oils and fats’ have climbed the most in comparison to all other segments like vegetables, fruits, spices, pulses, footwear, garments, etc that make up the basket which is used to determine the consumer inflation in a given month.

Besides edible oils, prices of meat and fish (12.54 per cent), egg (12.85 per cent), alcoholic beverages (13.15 per cent) and pulses (13.39 per cent) have gone considerably in the last month.

Edible oil prices have been on an ascending path for a long period of time and registered double digit growth in all the monthly official figures released since last June.

To recall, the prices have gone up by 15.17 per cent in October, 17.86 in November and around 20 per cent in last December.

The ‘oil and fats’ category tracks price movement of vanaspati and edible oils sourced from groundnut, mustard, coconut, etc.

Overall inflation at 4.06 per cent

Lower food prices, especially those of vegetables, cereals, milk and vegetables, dragged the overall inflation lower in the last month.

The CPI declined to 4.06 per cent from 4.59 per cent reported for December 2020.