Sharp rise in prices of edible oils in 1 month

NEW DELHI: Among the prices of 22 essential commodities that the Centre monitors, there has been a significant increase in the prices of edible oils, particularly mustard and soybean oil in the past one month. While the prices of packed mustard oil has increased by Rs 6 per litre across Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, it has increased by Rs 24 per litre or 16% during this period in Kolkata.
Many cities and states have imposed weekend lockdowns or curfews in the past one month including Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka to tackle the surge in Covid cases. The consumer affairs ministry has alerted the states to ensure that the prices of essential commodities don’t increase artificially during the lockdown.
According to the data available on the price monitoring portal of the ministry, the prices of tur or arhar dal per kg has increased by Rs 5, Rs 9, Rs 5 and Rs 2 in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai respectively in the past one month. The price of moong dal has increased by a maximum of Rs 14 per kg in Mumbai. The prices of soybean and sunflower oils have also increased. For example, one litre of packed soybean oil was selling at Rs 152 in Mumbai on Wednesday compared to Rs 134 a month back and in Kolkata the price has gone up from Rs 141 a litre to Rs 160 during this period. Similarly, the price of sunflower oil has increased from Rs 166 to Rs 189 in Kolkata.