Up to 30% rise in edible oil prices

The government is worried about the rise in edible oil prices – groundnut, mustard, vanaspati, soybean, sunflower and palm. According to people familiar with this development, this issue was flagged at a presentation before a Group of Ministers headed by home minister Amit Shah early this week.

The Consumer Affairs Ministry’s price monitoring cell shows that show that the average price of mustard oil was INR 120 per litre on Thursday compared to INR 100 in the preceding year. Prices of vanaspati have increased to INR 102.5 per kg against INR 75.25 a year back. Meanwhile, the modal price of soybean oil was selling at 110 per litre while average price on October 18 in 2019 was 90.

The industry has noted that reduction in palm oil production in Malaysia in the past six months.