At a high-level meeting held here on Friday, Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha reviewed the prices of onions and pulses and urged all relevant central departments to work closely with State governments to rein in prices of these essential commodities.

Sinha met the Secretaries of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Agriculture, Commerce, among others.

An official statement after the meeting observed that measures taken by the Centre, such as hiking the minimum export price of onion, extending stock limits for the bulb and an import of 2,000 tonnes, had resulted in a declining trend for prices.

Retail price

The average retail price of onions, however, continues to remain on the higher side, according to data by the Department of Consumer Affairs.

While it stood at Rs 57/kg in the Capital on Friday, lower than a month ago when it was Rs 60/kg; it was 97 per cent higher than six months ago (Rs 29/kg) and 90 per cent higher than a year ago when it was Rs 30/kg.

“As regards pulses, the stock limits have been extended up to 30.09.2016, zero import duty has been extended by another year and Central government resorted to import of 5,000 tonnes of pulses to increase their availability and bring down the prices,” the statement said.

Around 3,250 tonnes of tur (arhar) has arrived in India and the remaining stock is expected to arrive shortly. An additional import of 2,000 tonnes is also being made to improve supplies and moderate prices.

Despite the imports, the average retail price of tur has risen to Rs 152/kg here this week, up 15 per cent from a month ago (Rs 132/kg) and a whopping 88 per cent higher than at the same time last year (Rs 81/kg).

States have been allotted imported pulses as per their requirement and have been directed to crack down on hoarding. An Assocham study released last month said that demand through the festival season could push prices of pulses – a key protein source for Indians – even higher.

Crop sowing

The sowing of pulses, such as tur, urad and moong, are up 12.43 per cent as of Friday compared with the same time last year, mainly due to favourable weather at the beginning of what turned out to be a deficient monsoon and higher market prices.

The new tur crop will only hit markets by December and consumers may have to bear with higher prices till then.

Coverage of rice, the main Kharif foodgrain, is lower by 0.19 per cent compared with a year ago, while cotton acreage is nearly 8 per cent lower. Production of both crops is likely to be the same as last year, however, as per government and association estimates.

Oilseeds and coarse cereals acreage is also higher but total output is unlikely to vary significantly from 2014-15.

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