Average prices of 11 essential food items fall 2-11% in last one month: Govt

But many grocery workers have been surprised and disheartened to find that they've been left out of such policies, in part because a CDC panel had raised their expectations by recommending the second phase of the vaccine rollout — 1B — include grocery and other essential employees. (Image: AP)

The average prices of 11 essential food items declined 2-11 per cent in the last one month, the government said on Monday. Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted that prices of essential items have fallen, giving relief to monthly household budget. He also shared a chart showing the decline in the prices of 11 items. Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted that prices of essential items have fallen, giving relief to monthly household budget.

The average price of palm oil fell a maximum of 11 per cent to Rs 118 per litre on October 2 from Rs 132 per litre on September 2, 2022. The price of vanaspati ghee fell 6 per cent to Rs 143 per kg from Rs 152 per kg.

Sunflower oil price too fell 6 per cent to Rs 165 per litre from Rs 176 per litre while soyabean oil eased 5 per cent to Rs 148 per litre from Rs 156 per litre. Mustard oil price fell 3 per cent to Rs 167 per litre from Rs 173 per litre. The rate of groundnut oil went down 2 per cent to Rs 185 per litre from Rs 189 per litre. Mustard oil price fell 3 per cent to Rs 167 per litre from Rs 173 per litre.

Onion price dropped 8 per cent to Rs 24 per kg from Rs 26 per kg while the rate of potato declined 7 per cent to Rs 26 per kg from Rs 28 per kg. In pulses, rates of gram fell 4 per cent to Rs 71 per kg from Rs 74 per kg, masoor by 3 per cent to 94 per kg from Rs 97 per kg and urad dal by 2 per cent to Rs 106 per kg from Rs 108 per kg.

On Sunday, the food ministry said that domestic edible oil prices have been on a declining trend driven by a fall in global prices. With falling global rates and lower import duties, retail prices of edible oils have fallen considerably in India, it added.

The ministry also informed that concessional import duties on specified edible oils are in place till March 2023. This decision was taken on August 31, 2022 by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) in order to boost domestic supply and keeping retail prices under control.

The import duty on crude varieties of palm oil, soyabean oil and sunflower oil is currently zero. However, after taking into account 5 per cent agri cess and 10 per cent social welfare cess, the effective duty on crude varieties of these three edible oils is 5.5 per cent. The basic customs duty on refined varieties of palmolein and refined palm oil is 12.5 per cent, while social welfare cess is 10 per cent. So, the effective duty is 13.75 per cent.

For refined soyabean and sunflower oils, the basic customs duty is 17.5 per cent and taking into account 10 per cent social welfare cess, the effective duty comes to 19.25 per cent. With edible oil prices ruling high throughout last year, the government had on multiple occasions cut import duty on palm oil to increase domestic availability.

India meets more than 60 per cent of its edible oil requirement through imports. The country imported a record edible oil worth Rs 1.17 lakh crore in 2020-21 oil marketing year ending October.