Government confident of not much increase in prices of food products during festive season
28-Aug-2024 03:40 PM
New Delhi. The Central Government hopes that due to the measures implemented by it, the prices of food products will not increase much during the festive season this time.
It is noteworthy that in June, with the aim of increasing supply and availability in the domestic market and controlling the rise in prices, the government had imposed storage limits on tur and gram till 30 September 2024.
The demand for gram and gram flour made from it increases a lot during the festive season. The market price of gram is reaching new record levels, which clearly indicates that the storage limit order has no effect on its prices.
However, the government has ruled out the possibility of further huge increase in the prices of pulses (dals), potatoes and onions.
The Union Consumer Affairs Secretary says that due to good rains in the southwest monsoon, increase in the acreage of Kharif crops and liberalization of the policy of import of pulses, the prices of food products in the market are witnessing stability to a great extent.
He said that within the last two weeks, there has been some softening in the prices of major pulses like tuvar, urad and masoor.
There has been a good increase in the sowing area of tuvar, while heavy imports of urad and masoor continue.
During the current Kharif season, the production area of pulses crops has increased by 5.7 percent to above 120 lakh hectares as compared to last year, due to which its production is expected to increase. Prices will soften if there is better production.
The inflation rate in pulses has been running in double digits since June 2023. Two months ago, the retail price of tuvar dal in many centers had reached above Rs 200 per kg, which has now come down to around Rs 165 per kg.
There is a good import of tuvar from Myanmar and Malawi and urad from Myanmar and this process is likely to continue in the future as well. But gram is an exception to this because its price is increasing wildly.