Centre holds meeting to ensure availability of edible oil at reasonable prices
May 24, 2021
New Delhi [India], May 24 : The Central government on Monday held a meeting with all stake holders to discuss ways and means to address the issue of stability of edible oil prices.
In the meeting held by the Department of Food and Public Distribution with all stakeholders to discuss ways and means to address the issue of stability of edible oil price, the department's secretary said that the mission "Atmanirbhar Bharat" requires the country to be self-sufficient in edible oils.
"The dependency of almost 60 per cent on imports is not appropriate to the growth of the edible oil industry in India. There is a need to strike a balance between short term measures to keep prices in check and long term measures of keeping India Atma Nirbhar in edible oil production," the official said.
Noting that production and domestic availability of oilseeds in India falls way short of the needs of the domestic demand for edible oil and a big volume of edible oil is imported each year, the official said changes in International prices of edible oil make an impact on the domestic Indian price of edible oil.
The need to hold the meeting was also felt because the Centre got concerned about more than a proportionate rise in the prices of edible oil in India as compared with the rise in international prices of edible oil during the last few months.
In the meeting, it was realised that there was indeed a need to strike a balance between measures to keep high prices in check and measures to make India Atma Nirbhar in the area of edible oil production.
The Secretary said that all the States and stakeholders from the side of the business must take all possible steps to soften the prices, adding that suggestions presented in the meeting would help in arriving at wholesome solutions to address the issue of instability of edible oil prices and domestic growth of the oilseeds sector.
The participantsin the meeting were asked to mail the suggestions and other inputs as the Centre makes efforts to ensure the availability of edible oils at reasonable prices.
