New Delhi: In a bid to curb the edible oil prices in the country, the Union government on Thursday extended the stock limits on storage of edible oils and oilseeds in the country till the year-end and also brought six states under the ambit of the new order that has previously issued their own stock limits. “Stock limit of edible oils would be 30 quintals for retailers, 500 quintals for wholesalers, 30 quintals for retail outlets of bulk consumers such as big chain retailers and shops, and 1,000 quintals for its depots,” said the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
“For edible oilseeds, the stock limit would be 100 quintals for retailers, 2000 quintals for wholesalers. Processors of edible oilseeds would be able to stock 90 days production of edible oils as per daily input production capacity,” it said. According to officials, exporters and importers have been kept outside the purview of this order with some caveats.
“The above decision was taken after deliberations at the highest level on the upward price trends of all edible oils owing to the current geopolitical situations across the globe,” said the government. Indian authorities are concerned about the availability of edible oils after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war on February 24 which has not shown sign of an early resolution.
Officials said the pressure on sunflower oil supplies from Ukraine has had a rub-on effect on the export policy of Indonesia, affecting palm oil imports. Also, it was compounded by crop loss concerns in South America, impacting soybean oil supplies due to which the international prices of soyabean oil have shown a large upward trend.
Increasing edible oil prices
International Prices of Soyabean Oil increased by over 5% over the month and by more than 42% over the year. The international prices of palm oils, both crude and refined, which have decreased over the week and over the month and starting January this year have shown a substantial increasing trend.
Stock control order
In order to curtail the rising edible oil prices, the government has notified a Central Order on Wednesday, amending the Removal of Licensing Requirements, Stock Limits, and Movement Restrictions on Specified Foodstuffs Order, 2016.
The Centre also amended its order issued on February 3 this year by extending the stock limits for all Edible Oils and Oilseeds put together for a period up to 31st December this year for all States and Union Territories. This new stock control order will become effective from tomorrow (April 1). Another important feature of this order is that the six states such as Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan and Bihar which had issued their own control order earlier have also been brought under the purview of the latest order. Officials said the above measures are expected to curtail any unfair practices like hoarding, black marketing in the market and would help in controlling the prices of edible oils.
