New Delhi.The government on Thursday extended stock limits on edible oils and oilseeds till December this year in order to check the soaring prices of the
commodities due to the current global geopolitical situation. The order in this
regard will come into effect from April 1, an official statement said.
In October 2021, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs had imposed stock
limits till March 2022, and left the decision to states to decide whether the stock limits should be based on the availability and consumption pattern
According to the fresh order, the stock limit for edible oils will be 30 quintals
for retailers, 500 quintals for wholesalers, 30 quintals for retail outlets of bulk
consumers i.e. big chain retailers and shops and 1,000 quintals for its depots.
Processors of edible oils can stock up to 90 days of their storage/production
capacities.
For oilseeds, the stock limit will be 100 quintals for retailers and 2,000
quintals for wholesalers. Processors of oilseeds will be allowed to stock 90
days’ production of edible oils as per daily input production capacity.
Exporters and importers have been kept outside the purview of this order with
some caveats.
“The above measure is expected to curtail any unfair practices like hoarding,
black marketing, etc. in the market, and would help in controlling the prices of
edible oils and also ensuring that maximum benefft of the duty reduction is
passed on to the end consumers,” the statement said.
Six states — Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana,
Rajasthan and Bihar — which had issued their own control order in pursuance
of the central government’s order have also been brought under the purview of
the latest order.
“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,” the statement said.
The government said the pressure on sunflower oil supplies from Ukraine has
had a rub effect on the export policy of Indonesia, affecting palm oil
imports.
The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is likely to put pressure on the overall
supplies of edible oils, especially sunflower oil
due to which the international prices have shown a large upward trend, it
said.
International soyabean oil prices have increased by 5.05 per cent over the
month and by 42.22 per cent over the year. Global palm oils prices (both crude
and refined), which had showed a substantial increasing trend from January,
have decreased over the week and over the month, it added,PTI