Breather for consumers as edible oil brands slash prices

New Delhi: Major edible oil companies, including Adani Wilmar and Ruchi Soya, have reduced the maximum retail price (MRP) of their products by 10-15 per cent to provide relief to consumers, industry body SEA said on Monday.

The prices have been reduced by Adani Wilmar (on Fortune brands), Ruchi Soya (Mahakosh, Sunrich, Ruchi Gold and Nutrella brands), Emami (Healthy & Tasty brands), Bunge (Dalda, Gagan, Chambal brands) and Gemini (Freedom sunflower oil brands), it said.

COFCO (Nutrilive brands), Frigorifico Allana (Sunny brands), Gokul Agro (Vitalife, Mahek and Zaika brands) and others have also reduced prices, it added.

"We are happy to share that our leading members have responded proactively and reduced price on edible oils marketed by them, across the board by 10-15 per cent to provide relief to consumers during the festival season," Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.

With a view to providing succour to consumers, Union Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey had called a meeting of industry leaders a few days back and requested them to respond positively to the reduction in import duties which the government had announced, it added.

The industry body said it is hopeful the New Year would bring happier tidings for consumers with expectations of a large domestic mustard crop coupled with softening international prices in coming months. The SEA further said that the exorbitant price increase in edible oils during the last few months on account of high international prices was unnerving domestic consumers as well as policy makers.

To rein in the prices of edible oils, the government has reduced import duties on both refined and crude edible oils several times this year.

The last reduction on import duty was done by the government on December 20 when the basic customs duty on refined palm oil was brought down to 12.5 per cent from 17.5 per cent till the end of March 2022.

To boost supplies, the government has allowed traders to import refined palm oil without licence for one more year till December 2022 and markets regulator banned launch of new derivative contracts of crude palm oil and a few other agricultural commodities.

According to the SEA, India's dependence on import of edible oils is nearly 65 per cent of the total consumption of about 22-22.5 million tonne. The country imports 13-15 million tonne to bridge the gap between demand and domestic supply. For the last two marketing years (November to October), due to the pandemic, the imported quantity reduced to nearly 13 million tonne.