Onion price rise: PM asks agriculture ministry to act
New Delhi: The sky-rocketing onion prices have forced Prime Minster Manmohan Singh to step in to put an end to the food crisis. Singh on Tuesday asked the agriculture ministry to take immediate steps to deal with the situation effectively.
According to sources, Singh's letter to Sharad Pawar states that the "Prime minister desires that all necessary steps to deal with extraordinary price rise and to bring the prices down to affordable levels are expeditiously taken and their impact monitored on a day to day basis".
The government has already suspended export of onions, which are selling at Rs 70-80 per kilo in the market.
Singh's move comes after the recent hike in petrol prices burnt a deep hole in the aam admi’s wallet with the escalating onion prices reducing even the elite class to tears.
According to vendors, the price of onions per kg is likely to touch Rs 100 per kg. With international price of LPG going up, the government is likely to hike the LPG prices by a whopping 50% or more. After price hike in milk, petrol, vegetables and expected hike in LPG are forcing not only the aam admi but also the rich class to put post-New Year celebrations on the back burner.
According to experts from the Maharashtra Agricultural Assistant Association (MAAA), untimely rain damaged the crops, leading to the price rise. The high transportation cost also makes a difference when you purchase vegetable.
President of the association, Mahesh Kharat said, "The untimely rains have damaged the current season's rabi crops and the prices are not likely to come down till the next crop is sown by the farmers."
The next rabi crop will be sown in February or March. "Onion and tomato crops were also destroyed and thus the prices continue to remain high," he added.
Trader Vilas Bhujbal said, "The price hike is not limited only to Maharashtra. Vegetable prices have gone up in other states too. Generally, the rainy season lasts for two to three months, but this time it lasted six months, causing havoc in the agriculture sector," Bhujbal said.
No onion export till Jan 15; govt imports onions from Pak
The government has decided to suspend onion exports till January 15 following skyrocketing prices at around R 60-70 a kilo due to "hoarding and speculation".
Amid soaring prices of onion in the country, truck loads of the commodity arrived here in Chandigarh on Monday from Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah land route for supply to northern markets in India.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday acknowledged that the situation is really 'serious'. "Onion prices are likely to stay high for the next three weeks," said Pawar.
As many as 13 truck loads (5 to 15 tonne per truck) of onion have arrived from Pakistan, a senior official of Customs department in Amritsar said without quantifying the total import consignment.
"About five (Indian) importers have brought in onion from Lahore on Monday for supply in the markets of Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar in Punjab and Delhi," the official said.
The landed cost of onion from Pakistan stood at R 18-20 per kg, he said adding this included custom duty, cess, transportation and handling charges.
Economists still not revising inflation targets
Despite the price rise in vegetables, economists are not revising their inflation targets for March 2011. “We are not revising our inflation target for March 2011 because we view this as temporary phenomena,” said A Prasanna, economist and vice-president, ICICI Securities Primary Dealership.
Despite a rise in vegetable prices, the index is coming down also because of the weightage given to other items, said Prasanna.
Milk prices go dearer too
Milk has been dearer in the Delhi-NCR by Rs 1 per litre as Mother Dairy, the biggest supplier in the region, announced a hike in rates last week.
"The producer price for milk has increased, as a result of which Mother Dairy is compelled to revise milk prices (by Rs 1 a litre across variants) in the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) effectively from December 19, 2010," Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Ltd said in a statement.
The revised price of one litre full cream milk (poly pack) is Rs 33 per litre, toned milk R 25/litre and double toned R 22/litre. The rate of toned bulk vended milk (token milk) will be Rs 24 a litre.
"Over the past two years, milk producers prices (procurement costs) have increased significantly.
Petrol prices skyrocketing
Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) has hiked petrol prices by Rs 2.95 a litre and other state-owned oil companies IOC and HPCL have also followed suit.
The oil ministry gave the three companies a go-ahead to raise petrol prices after international crude oil prices touched $90 per barrel.
BPCL, the second largest fuel retailer in the country, took the lead to raise petrol prices by Rs 2.95 rpt 2.95 a litre to Rs 55.86 per litre in Delhi.
As a result, petrol prices in Delhi will cost Rs 60.27 per litre. This is the steepest hike in petrol prices ever since the government deregulated the pricing mechanism. The increase in petrol prices has come just a day after the winter session of parliament ended.
This is the sixth hike in the prices of petrol ever since the government deregulated the product in the country. Through 2010, oil marketing companies (OMC) have increased petrol prices by as much as Rs8.38 per litre.
(With inputs from agencies)
Onion prices to come down only in 2-3 weeks: Pawar
New Delhi: The sky-rocketing onion prices have forced Prime Minster Manmohan Singh to step in to put an end to the food crisis. Singh on Tuesday asked the agriculture ministry to take immediate steps to deal with the situation effectively.
According to sources, Singh's letter to Sharad Pawar states that the "Prime minister desires that all necessary steps to deal with extraordinary price rise and to bring the prices down to affordable levels are expeditiously taken and their impact monitored on a day to day basis".
The government has already suspended export of onions, which are selling at Rs 70-80 per kilo in the market.
Singh's move comes after the recent hike in petrol prices burnt a deep hole in the aam admi’s wallet with the escalating onion prices reducing even the elite class to tears.
According to vendors, the price of onions per kg is likely to touch Rs 100 per kg. With international price of LPG going up, the government is likely to hike the LPG prices by a whopping 50% or more. After price hike in milk, petrol, vegetables and expected hike in LPG are forcing not only the aam admi but also the rich class to put post-New Year celebrations on the back burner.
According to experts from the Maharashtra Agricultural Assistant Association (MAAA), untimely rain damaged the crops, leading to the price rise. The high transportation cost also makes a difference when you purchase vegetable.
President of the association, Mahesh Kharat said, "The untimely rains have damaged the current season's rabi crops and the prices are not likely to come down till the next crop is sown by the farmers."
The next rabi crop will be sown in February or March. "Onion and tomato crops were also destroyed and thus the prices continue to remain high," he added.
Trader Vilas Bhujbal said, "The price hike is not limited only to Maharashtra. Vegetable prices have gone up in other states too. Generally, the rainy season lasts for two to three months, but this time it lasted six months, causing havoc in the agriculture sector," Bhujbal said.
No onion export till Jan 15; govt imports onions from Pak
The government has decided to suspend onion exports till January 15 following skyrocketing prices at around R 60-70 a kilo due to "hoarding and speculation".
Amid soaring prices of onion in the country, truck loads of the commodity arrived here in Chandigarh on Monday from Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah land route for supply to northern markets in India.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday acknowledged that the situation is really 'serious'. "Onion prices are likely to stay high for the next three weeks," said Pawar.
As many as 13 truck loads (5 to 15 tonne per truck) of onion have arrived from Pakistan, a senior official of Customs department in Amritsar said without quantifying the total import consignment.
"About five (Indian) importers have brought in onion from Lahore on Monday for supply in the markets of Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar in Punjab and Delhi," the official said.
The landed cost of onion from Pakistan stood at R 18-20 per kg, he said adding this included custom duty, cess, transportation and handling charges.
Economists still not revising inflation targets
Despite the price rise in vegetables, economists are not revising their inflation targets for March 2011. “We are not revising our inflation target for March 2011 because we view this as temporary phenomena,” said A Prasanna, economist and vice-president, ICICI Securities Primary Dealership.
Despite a rise in vegetable prices, the index is coming down also because of the weightage given to other items, said Prasanna.
Milk prices go dearer too
Milk has been dearer in the Delhi-NCR by Rs 1 per litre as Mother Dairy, the biggest supplier in the region, announced a hike in rates last week.
"The producer price for milk has increased, as a result of which Mother Dairy is compelled to revise milk prices (by Rs 1 a litre across variants) in the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) effectively from December 19, 2010," Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Ltd said in a statement.
The revised price of one litre full cream milk (poly pack) is Rs 33 per litre, toned milk R 25/litre and double toned R 22/litre. The rate of toned bulk vended milk (token milk) will be Rs 24 a litre.
"Over the past two years, milk producers prices (procurement costs) have increased significantly.
Petrol prices skyrocketing
Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) has hiked petrol prices by Rs 2.95 a litre and other state-owned oil companies IOC and HPCL have also followed suit.
The oil ministry gave the three companies a go-ahead to raise petrol prices after international crude oil prices touched $90 per barrel.
BPCL, the second largest fuel retailer in the country, took the lead to raise petrol prices by Rs 2.95 rpt 2.95 a litre to Rs 55.86 per litre in Delhi.
As a result, petrol prices in Delhi will cost Rs 60.27 per litre. This is the steepest hike in petrol prices ever since the government deregulated the pricing mechanism. The increase in petrol prices has come just a day after the winter session of parliament ended.
This is the sixth hike in the prices of petrol ever since the government deregulated the product in the country. Through 2010, oil marketing companies (OMC) have increased petrol prices by as much as Rs8.38 per litre.
(With inputs from agencies)
Onion prices to come down only in 2-3 weeks: Pawar
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