The Centre has written a letter to the states and Union Territories asking them to ensure a reduction in the prices of edible oils.
The Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) will be meeting all states/UTs on Monday through video conferencing to review the action taken on the stock limit order on edible prices.
“In a letter written to all states by secretary DFPD, Shri Sudhanshu Pandey, the department has outlined initiatives taken by the Centre to ease prices of edible oils for relief of consumer and keeping the festive season in mind,” said a statement issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
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The DFPD is monitoring the prices of edible oils and their availability to consumers.
This is especially important in the context of the upcoming festival season in which demand of edible oils will increase.
“Various steps have already been taken by the government like based on the interaction with all the states and edible oil industry associations, stock disclosure notification has been issued and DFPD has created a web portal to monitor the stock of edible oils/oilseeds on a weekly basis in the country,” the ministry said.
Demand and consumption of edible are different for the different states/UTs as per the preference of the consumers.
However, for finalizing the stock limit quantity of edible oils and oilseeds, the states/UTs may consider/explore the previous stock limit imposed for edible oils and oilseeds by the state/UTs.
It may be considered that any stakeholder (refiners, miller, wholesalers etc.) should not hold the stocks in excess two months of the storage capacity.
For guidance states may prefer to indicative limits which may have been imposed by states earlier is enclosed for consideration.
However, for other categories, similar quantities as appropriate for the state may be fixed. For example: for refiners, stocks of the maximum of 2 months of the average scale of the last six months could be used.
Similarly, quantities may be fixed for extractors/millers may be fixed.