Government closely monitoring prices of cereals, will take steps as and when needed: MoS Agri

The government on July 20 prohibited export of non-basmati white rice.

The government is closely monitoring the prices of cereals and will take steps as and when they are needed to control the prices, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare said.

“We are restricting exports to maintain prices and ensuring that prices do not rise too much nor do they fall too much,” he added. Choudhary was speaking at an ITC unveiling ceremony celebrating the International Year of Millets.

The minister’s comments come at a time when India has been witnessing a sustained rise in the cost of its food basket in the past few months, with the prices of wheat, rice, milk, vegetables, and pulses firming up. Overall food inflation surged to 4.49 percent in June from 2.96 percent in May, pushing up the headline retail inflation for last month to 4.81 percent, from 4.31 percent in May.

The government, on July 20, prohibited the export of non-basmati white rice. The government has not yet lifted the ban on wheat exports in place since May last year, and for pulses, the customs duty of 10 percent on tur and urad continues to remain nil; this will remain unchanged till the end of FY2023-24. Rice has seen a 12.97 percent upswing on-year.

Even after government intervention, including removing the procurement ceiling of 40 percent on certain pulses under the Price Support Scheme (PSS) for 2023-24, prices of staple lentils, such as tur, urad, and moong have been on the rise. Tur has risen by a steep 32 percent, department of consumer affairs data shows.

Despite the steps, the prices of these everyday staples have refused to come down and are expected to remain high for the next couple of months, said D K Joshi, Chief Economist, Crisil. “While the price inflation of vegetables may be seasonal, we may have to bear with inflation in cereals and pulses for the next couple of months,” he said, speaking at a Moneycontrol panel on food inflation on July 18.