Cooking oil prices have increased 18-25% in the wake of the imposition of import duty last week, they said, and as prices of all oils, including soybean, have gone up, farmers in Maharashtra are expected to get higher prices for their crop.
Similarly, onions have become about 12% costlier in a week following the government’s move to free up exports, according to the executives. Sugar prices have increased about 5% over the past month, they said, as the government, instead of following the usual practice of releasing more sugar in the market during the festive season, slashed the sugar quota for September by 6% to assuage the politically strong cooperatives and sugarcane farmers of Maharashtra.
Last year, in the run-up to the 2024 general election, the Centre had taken a number of decisions to keep prices of commodities such as onions, pulses, sugar and cooking oils under control, adversely affecting the returns of farmers. Now, ahead of the state polls in Maharashtra, the balance has tilted in favour of the farmers, who form a chunk of the electorate, at the expense of the consumers at a time of peak festive season demand, said one of the executives.
Cooking Oils: “Cooking oil prices have increased 18-25% during the last one month,” Shankar Thakkar, national president, All India Edible Oil Traders Federation, said on Wednesday.
He said that as the industry anticipated imposition of import duty, importers started raising prices before the actual duty hike. “There was some more increase after the duty was imposed last week,” he said. “Increasing prices of the old stock in the name of duty hike is not fair to consumers.”Consumer affairs secretary Sanjeev Chopra, however, said on Wednesday that the government did not anticipate any price rise in any commodity during the festive season. “Prices of major agricultural commodities such as wheat, rice, edible oil and sugar will not see a sharp increase in this festive season,” he said.The Centre last week imposed a 20% import duty on cooking oils. Senior Maharashtra ministers had been lobbying with the Centre for raising soyabean prices, which have been hovering below minimum support price (MSP) since last year. As the soybean harvest is about to begin and will continue during the assembly election, the government did not want to face the wrath of the soyabean farmers, who are spread across the state, which is the second largest producer of the oilseed in the country, said one of the persons cited earlier.
Sugar: Prices of sugar, a commodity that governments try to keep in check during festive season by increasing supplies, have increased this time following the 6% year-on-year reduction in monthly sale quota for September. “The ex-mill sugar prices for S30 grade sugar have increased from ₹35 per kg to ₹36.50 per kg in a month. The demand has slowed this week due to the Pitru Paksh. However, it would increase in a few days for the upcoming Durga Puja,” said Abhijit Ghorpade, a sugar trader from Kolhapur.
It has been a longstanding demand of the sugar industry to increase the MSP of sugar, which has been fixed at ₹33 per kg for many years. Industry executives told ET on condition of anonymity that the Centre has tried to make the sugar barons, who have a hold over a large number of voters, happy by ensuring that the sugar prices remain firm.
Onions: Prices of onions have increased about 12% as the government eased export restrictions by removing the minimum export price (MEP) and halving the export duty to 20%. Wholesale onion prices have increased ₹5-7 per kg to ₹50 per kg in Maharashtra, with the prices of good quality onions in the retail market crossing the ₹70 per kg mark.
Before this year’s general election, the Centre first banned onion exports, when the global demand for Indian onions was very strong, and later imposed export duty and MEP. Onion farmers had run a campaign during the election with an appeal to the farming community to vote against the ruling parties, which impacted the election results in at least eight assembly constituencies in the state, according to analysts.
