Two months after the government hiking import duty on key edible oils variants and purchase of oilseeds at the minimum support price (MSP) from farmers, mandi prices of soyabean, a key kharif crop, continue to rule below the benchmark price. This is even as retails prices of all the variants of cooking oils, including soyabean, have risen sharply in the range of 18-44% over the last two months.
In Maharashtra where polling for the assembly is held today, the subdued prices of soyabean has been a key issue.
Also ReadMore oil available, market situation to calm: Hardeep Singh Puri
Sources said that that average mandi prices of soyabean currently are ruling in the range of Rs 4500 to Rs 4700/quintal against the MSP of Rs 4,892/quintal announced for the 2024-25 season (July-June) mainly attributed to high moisture content in the crop.
Officials told FE that the main reasons behind hiking import duties on cooking oils was to boost domestic oilseeds prices as the country imports about 58% of annual requirements.
In a recent communication to states, the agriculture ministry has allowed agencies such as Nafed and National Cooperative Consumers Federation of India (NCCF) to procure soyabean at 15% moisture instead of a prescribed 12% if states bore the expenses which is expected to boost purchases from the farmers.
According to department of of consumer affairs data, retail prices of mustard oil, soyabean oil, sunflower and palm oils have increased to Rs 165/litre, Rs 154/lifte, Rs 159/litre and Rs 144/litre respectively which is an increase of 18%, 28%, 32% and 44% compared to prices prevailed two months back.
Retails inflation in ‘oils and fats’ category rose to a high of last two year to 9.51% in October after being in negative zones for years due to cheaper imports.
In the last two months, Nafed and NCCF have purchased 76,000 tonne of soybean from farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Gujarat and Telangana under the at MSP under the price support scheme (PSS) of the agriculture ministry current kharif season.
In September, when mandi prices were below the MSP due to low import duties on edible oil, the agriculture ministry had approved the purchase of 3.22 million tonnes (MT) of soyabean from farmers in Madhya Pradesh (1.36 MT), Maharashtra (1.3 MT),
» Read More
