Government alerts about food inflation, restrictions on export of wheat, onion, sugar will continue
Piyush Goyal, the minister of consumer affairs, announced on Saturday that the export of food products like wheat, onions, sugar, and regular rice will remain prohibited for the time being. When the export prohibition on certain products is removed, there's a chance that their retail costs will go up. The sugar export prohibition will remain in place, but there is no mention of sugar imports.
Regarding food inflation, the administration appears to be fully aware of the situation. Piyush Goyal, the minister of consumer affairs, announced on Saturday that the export of food products like wheat, onions, sugar, and regular rice will remain prohibited for the time being. When the export prohibition on certain products is removed, there's a chance that their retail costs will go up.
He claimed that because the government also looks out for farmers' interests, onions are bought in large quantities at the federal level. The government is purchasing onions from regions like Ahmednagar, Nashik, Hoshangabad, Solapur and Pune at the rate of Rs 19-23 per kg.
Given the rising prices of onion, the export of onion was completely banned a few months ago. Similarly, due to fear of low sugar production, the export of sugar was also banned. The ban on the export of wheat has been in place for more than a year.
At 5.69 per cent, the retail inflation rate for December hit its highest point in the previous four months. In December of last year, the retail inflation rate of food products was 4.19 per cent, while at the same time, the rate of inflation for food items jumped to 9.53 per cent.
Goyal stated that although the import of sugar is unquestionable, the export of sugar will remain prohibited. He promised to evaluate the issue of rising domestic rice prices shortly, even with the export of regular rice prohibited.
Although the export of basmati rice is not restricted, it is nonetheless impacted by the disturbances in the Red Sea. Still, the price of rice is not decreasing at the domestic level.
He said that there is a possibility of record production of wheat this year and if the domestic wheat stock becomes much more than the requirement, then lifting the ban on wheat export can be considered.
Goyal said that despite the ban on food items, at the request of neighbouring and developing countries, India is continuously supplying wheat and other grains to them. These include many countries like Indonesia, Bhutan, and Afghanistan.
