Prices of essential commodities like wheat and pulses have shown a steady declining trend while that of rice, edible oils and some vegetables have been on the rise in the recent past, Parliament was informed on Monday.

Retail prices of essential commodities have shown steady declining trend in the case of wheat, flour, pulses such as tur dal, urad dal, moong dal, masoor dal and sugar, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Mr K V Thomas informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

On the other hand, prices of rice, edible oils, vegetables such as potato and onion had shown increasing trend over the past six months as observed in four metros - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, he said.

Mr Thomas said the rate of increase in prices during the last five years has not been uniform across the commodities.

The increase has been sharper in the prices of some commodities such as milk, onion, tur dal and rice, while the rise in prices has been moderate in the case of commodities such as wheat, flour, gram dal, sugar, potato etc.

Giving reasons for the price rise of commodities, the minister said that while rise in prices of rice could be due to the increase in MSP, weather and seasonal factors affect the prices of vegetables.

In the case of edible oils, 50 per cent of our requirements are imported to meet the demand supply mismatch. Therefore, domestic prices are also susceptible to the changes in the international prices, he said.

Mr Thomas said that several fiscal and administrative measures, including reducing import duties to zero for rice and wheat, onion and pulses and edible oils and removing levy obligation in respect of all imported raw sugar and white/refined sugar, have been taken to check price rise.

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