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Informist, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025

 

MUMBAI – The government is closely monitoring the prices and availability of essential food commodities, especially pulses and onion, to ensure affordability and maintain a stable price regime, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said in a release.

 

Prices of pulses and onions, which had risen significantly due to a decline in production, have come down due to various government policies and interventions, the release said. 

 

To incentivise domestic production, the department removed the procurement ceiling under the price support scheme for pulses imports, ensuring 100% procurement at the minimum support price during 2024-25. The Centre also pre-registered farmers for assured procurement, distribution of seeds, and the government procurement agencies have organised awareness programmes. 

 

The government's first estimate for the 2024-25 kharif crop pegs tur production at 3.5 million tonnes, up from 3.4 million tonnes last year, while that of moong is expected to rise to 1.4 million tonnes from 1.2 million tonnes last year. Chana sowing in the ongoing rabi season is also promising, with acreage at 9.67 million hectares, up 0.8% on year.

 

The retail inflation in December was 5.22%, significantly lower than the year's peak of 6.21% in October. Food inflation had also moderated in December to 8.39% from 10.87% in October, the release said. When compared with previous years, the annual average retail inflation rate of 4.95% in 2024 is lower than rates for the previous two years, which were 6.69% in 2022 and 5.65% in 2023. 

 

To ensure ample availability, duty-free imports of tur, urad, masur, and chana were extended till Mar. 31, while that of yellow peas were extended till Feb. 20, the release said. To directly bring down retail rates of the pulses, the government continued the sale of chana dal, moong dal and masur dal under the Bharat brand.  

 

These measures have helped bring down the CPI pulses inflation rate from 19.54% in January 2024 to 3.83% in December, and aided in the increase of production of pulses in 2024-25 (Jul-Jun). 

 

Chana sowing in the ongoing rabi season is also promising, with acreage under the pulse at 9.67 million hectares, up 0.8% from the area sown in the previous year.

 

To help monitor onion prices, the government procured 470,000 tonnes, with the average procurement price of INR 2,833 per 100 kg being higher than INR 1,742 per 100 kg last year. The buffer stock was released between September and December at INR 35 per kg at retail levels, to bring prices down.

 

The domestic production of onions is also seeing an improvement on account of higher sowing in both kharif, late kharif, and the ongoing rabi season.  End

 

Reported by Shreya Shetty

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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