Eating oil
The government has taken a big step to control the sky -touched prices of edible oil and to ensure its availability in the market. Now the government will keep a close watch on the production, sales and stocks of edible oil making companies. For this, the government has issued a draft of Vegetable Oil Productions and Authority Order 2025. Suggestions have been sought from all stakeholders on this draft till 11 July. The aim of the government is that through this order, there should be transparency in the market and activities like hoarding should be stopped. Along with this, the government is planning to re -implement the standard pack size for edible oils soon, so that the incidents of cheating customers can be curbed.
Government will keep an eye on companies
The government has made it clear that now companies making edible oil will have to give full details of their production, sales and stock every month. Earlier companies were not giving such data to the government, due to which the government was having trouble in the market availability and assessment of prices properly. Now after the new order is implemented, companies will also have to provide data of import and export. If a company does not follow this rule, the government can take strict action. Not only this, the government can also check the production by going to the plant of companies.
Pack size rigging will be banned
After complaints of manipulation of edible oil prices and cheating customers, the government is going to tighten the packaging rules again. In the year 2022, the legal measuring (packaged goods) rules were relaxed, after which the traders started selling packs of irregular size like 800 grams, 810 grams or 850 grams in the market. The entire price was being collected from the customers by selling these packs as one kg pack. This created confusion among the customers and their trust started to break.
Now the government plans that standard pack size like 500 grams, 1 kg, 2 kg and 5 kg should be made mandatory again. A government official said that due to irregular pack size, customers are having difficulty in understanding how much oil they are buying and how much it should cost. With the implementation of standard pack size, prices will be banned and transparency in the market.
Why is this step important?
Consumption of edible oil in India is increasing every year. It was 24.6 million tonnes in 2020-21, which increased to 28.9 million tonnes in 2022-23. With this rising demand, prices have also seen a sharp jump. For example, the price of mustard oil was Rs 135.50 per kg last year, which has now increased to Rs 170.66. Similarly, soya oil has increased from Rs 123.61 to Rs 147.04, sunflower oil has increased from Rs 123.17 to Rs 160.77 and palm oil from Rs 101 to Rs 135.04 per kg. The price of peanut oil has been almost stable, but the price of vegetation has also increased from Rs 126.40 to Rs 154.71 per kg. Consumers were suffering due to these rising prices and irregular pack size. The government believes that the new rules will not only control prices, but the trust of customers can also be won back.