All India Daily Average Retail Prices of 22 essential food items including vegetables (Potato, Onion and Tomatoes) for initial months of current year and last two years is Annexed.
Prices of food items including vegetables are inter-alia affected by mismatch in demand and supply, shortfall in production owing to adverse weather conditions and seasonality, increased transportation costs, supply chain constraints like lack of storage facilities, artificial shortage created by hoarding and black marketing, etc.
Government has taken various measures from time to time to stabilize prices of essential food items which, inter-alia, include appropriately utilizing trade and fiscal policy instruments like import and export duty, Minimum Export Price, export restrictions, etc. to regulate domestic availability and moderate prices; imposition of stock limits and advising States for effective action against hoarders & black marketers ; and, provision of higher Minimum Support Prices to incentivize farmers for increasing production. Government is also implementing Schemes which, inter alia, include Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), National Food Security Mission (NFSM), National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP), etc. for increasing agricultural production and productivity through appropriate interventions. Besides, Government is also implementing Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) to help moderate the volatility in prices of agri-horticultural commodities like pulses, onion, and potato. Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has also formulated a new scheme “Operation Greens” for integrated development of Tomato, Onion and Potato (TOP) value chain which, inter alia, has the objective of price stabilization for producers and consumers by proper production planning in the TOP clusters and introduction of dual use varieties. These policy interventions by Government had ensured that prices of the majority of essential food items monitored by Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) have remained relatively stable over the period and with no major price rise.
This information was given in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
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ANNEXURE
ALL INDIA ANNUAL AVERAGE RETAIL PRICES OF 22 ESSENTIAL FOOD ITEMS MONITORED BY DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS
| (Unit: in ₹/kg) | |||||
| Year | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20* | ||
| Commodity | |||||
| Rice | 29.57 | 30.09 | 30.64 | ||
| Wheat | 23.75 | 24.74 | 26.06 | ||
| Atta (Wheat) | 26.08 | 26.80 | 27.75 | ||
| Gram Dal | 80.00 | 65.11 | 65.24 | ||
| Tur/Arhar Dal | 78.66 | 71.17 | 77.44 | ||
| Urad Dal | 85.33 | 70.23 | 72.07 | ||
| Moong Dal | 76.24 | 74.03 | 77.65 | ||
| Masoor Dal | 66.81 | 61.33 | 61.93 | ||
| Groundnut Oil (Packed) | 129.18 | 125.80 | 127.28 | ||
| Mustard Oil (Packed) | 106.04 | 106.81 | 108.41 | ||
| Vanaspati (Packed) | 78.09 | 80.73 | 80.39 | ||
| Soya Oil (Packed) | 85.62 | 90.29 | 92.04 | ||
| Sunflower Oil (Packed) | 93.13 | 97.33 | 99.03 | ||
| Palm Oil (Packed) | 71.14 | 77.13 | 75.15 | ||
| Potato | 15.11 | 19.35 | 16.47 | ||
| Onion | 27.27 | 19.18 | 16.61 | ||
| Tomato | 32.77 | 22.32 | 29.23 | ||
| Sugar | 42.38 | 38.26 | 38.15 | ||
| Gur | 44.98 | 42.71 | 43.07 | ||
| Milk @ | 41.91 | 42.53 | 43.36 | ||
| Tea Loose | 204.46 | 209.46 | 211.78 | ||
| Salt Pack (Iodised) | 15.11 | 15.28 | 15.32 | ||
*Average price during April-May in 2019-20
Source: – State Civil Supplies Deptt.
