Nagpur: Even as the Central Government has asked edible oil processors not to increase retail prices following the recent hike in import duties, prices are flying high in the markets giving tough time to consumers in Nagpur ahead of festive season.
Prices of most of the edible oils have seen a hike of Rs 15-18 per kg in the city’s wholesale market. Soybean oil, which was available at a price of Rs 1750-1800 per tin of 15 kg about seven days back, has now gone up to a level of Rs 2050 per tin. Similarly, palm oil price went up from Rs 1650-1700 per tin to Rs 2000 per tin; mustard oil price from Rs1850-1900 per tin to Rs 2150 per tin and sunflower oil price from Rs 1700- 1725 per tin of 15 litres to Rs 1980 per tin of 15 litres during the same period.
Recently, while increasing import duty of edible oils, the Government has said that there was enough stock of cooking oils that were shipped at a lower duty. The Union Food Ministry highlighted that the stocks imported at lower duties would easily last 45-50 days, and therefore the processors should refrain from increasing maximum retail prices (MRP).
According to a trader, the rising prices could be due to the recent hike in import duty of edible oils. He said that there were rumours in the market that the Government would hike import duty on soybean oil. The Agriculture Ministry has sent a proposal to the Central Government to raise the minimum support price (MSP) so that the farmers would get better remuneration for their produce which would be coming in the wholesale markets from September end. This proposal has affected the edible oil prices in the domestic market, he said.
It is important to note that the Government has hiked the minimum support price (MSP) of soybean seeds by Rs 300 to Rs 4,892 per quintal for the current season.
