India’s attempts to lower edible oil prices ahead of important state elections have been ruined by a spike in global palm oil prices to record highs after Indonesia, the world’s biggest supplier, moved restrict exports.
This is reported by ProAgro Group, citing Reuters.
Mindful of an electorate that is highly sensitive to food price inflation, India’s government tried to rein in domestic prices by reducing import taxes, imposing stockpile limits and suspending futures trading in edible oils and oilseeds.
Those efforts initially yielded some success. But as India imports two-thirds of its edible oils, the benefits of the duty cut and other measures have been virtually erased by the surge in global prices after Indonesia ordered producers to sell 20% of their sales to the domestic market to cool local cooking oil prices.
Spot prices of palm oil , the most consumed edible oil in the country, have risen more than 12% so far in 2022 to 1,228 rupees per 10 kg after hitting a record high of 1,280.75 rupees in May 2021.
