The government has directed the edible oil industry to cut retail prices of essential commodity by Rs 8 to Rs 12 with immediate effect as the international rates have fallen sharply in the last two months, according to a report by IANS.
The directive was given by the Secretary of Food and Public Distribution, Sanjeev Chopra to representatives of edible oil associations in a meeting, where they were specifically told to pass on the benefits of lower edible oil prices to consumers.
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The industry informed that global prices of different edible oils have fallen by $150-200 per tonne in the last two months, the IANS report mentioned.
Chopra is learnt to have directed the edible oil producers to pass on the benefit of lower prices to consumers expeditiously and without any delay.
The industry was also informed that the price to distributors by the manufacturers and refiners also needs to be reduced with immediate effect so that the drop is not diluted in any way.
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In light of this directive, sources accessed by IANS have informed that the edible oil prices are expected to come down in the next few days.
The sources said that this is the second meeting in the past few weeks with edible oil associations, to discuss reduction in retail prices of the commodity.
The representatives present in the meeting included Solvent Extraction Association of India (SEAI) and Indian Vegetable Oil Producers’ Association (IVPA) among others.
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Earlier, in May, at a similar meeting, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra had said that consumers should get the benefits of reduced prices of edibile oil as the fall in prices is gradually being reflected in the domestic markets as well.
