Government Extends Stock Limit On Edible Oil and Oil Seeds to End-December To Curtail Rising Prices

The government has extended its order of stock limit on edible oil prices and oilseeds to the end of the year as the fallout from the Ukraine war has pushed up prices across commodities.

The notification said, "to curtail the rising edible oil prices; the government has notified a Central Order on March 30, 2022, amending the Removal of Licensing Requirements, Stock Limits and Movement Restrictions on Specified Foodstuffs Order, 2016 and its Central Order dated February 3, 2022, by extending the stock limits for all Edible Oils and Oilseeds put together for a period up to December 31, 2022, for all States/Union Territories. This order is effective from April 1, 2022, to December 31 2022."

The centre had earlier in February imposed stock limit quantities on edible oil and oils seeds through to end-June this year. 

The stock limit for edible oils is 30 quintals for retailers, 500 quintals for wholesalers, 30 quintals for retail outlets of bulk consumers, i.e. big chain retailers and shops and 1000 quintals for its depots. Processors of edible oils can stock 90 days of their storage/production capacities.

For edible oilseeds, the stock cap was set at 100 quintals for retailers and 2000 wholesalers. Processors of edible oilseeds can stock 90 days' production of edible oils as per daily input production capacity. 

But exporters and importers have been kept outside the purview of this order with some caveats.

"Another important amendment in this order is that the six States viz Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan & Bihar which had issued their control order in pursuance of Central Order dated October 8, 2022, have also been brought under the purview of the latest order with effect from April 1, 2022," the notification said.

"The pressure on sunflower oil supplies from Ukraine has had a rub-on effect on the export policy of Indonesia, affecting palm oil imports; also, it was compounded by crop loss concerns in South America, impacting soybean oil supplies due to which the International prices of soyabean oil have shown a large upward trend," said the notification.

The Russia-Ukraine war has further disrupted global supply chains, which were already impacted by the pandemic. Commodities' prices have surged since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the most significant attack on a European state since World War Two.

"International Prices of Soyabean Oil increased by 5.05 per cent over the month and by 42.22% over the year. The international prices of palm oils, both crude and refined, have decreased over the week and the month and, starting January 2022, have shown a significant increasing trend. The above measure is expected to curtail any unfair practices like hoarding, black marketing etc., in the market and would help control the prices of edible oils and ensure that the maximum benefit of the duty reduction is passed on to the end consumers," added the notification.