Gujarat govt imposes stock limit on edible oil, oilseeds

Gandhinagar, 5 April, 2012

Very lately, the Government of Gujarat today imposed stock control on edible oil and oil seeds, with immediate effect, in a bid to arrest further escalation of edible oil prices.

As per the notification issued today, any wholesale stockist in Gujarat is not allowed to keep more than 600 quintal or 4000 tins( each of 15 liter) of edible oil. Retail stockist is allowed to store not more than 45 quintal or 300 tins of edible oil.

While farmers are exempted from any restriction, traders and oil millers are not allowed to keep more than 2000 kg of oilseeds, as per the latest notification. wholesale traders of oilseeds are allowed to stock 200 tonnes oilseeds, retail traders are allowed to keep 10 tonnes stock. For oil millers, stock sufficient for 2 months activity is allowed, while for new oil millers, stock for 1 month activity is allowed.

It should be mentioned here that a single tin of 15 liter of groundnut oil costs more than Rs 2100 nowadays, almost double compare to last year.

State Civil supply minister Narottam Patel said that the government would not hesitate to use PBM act against those who violate the provisions in the notification.

The civil supply corporation department might be given the powers to seize the additional stock.

Meanwhile speaking to media persons in Rajkot, the Gujarat BJP leader Vijay Rupani said, “the Modi Government is concerned about rising prices of edible oils. Therefore, it has decided to import palm oil.”

He did not disclose the exact stock of palm oil to be released but said subsidised palm oil would be available in the market by end of April. Both the State Government and the Centre have agreed to give Rs 25 each as subsidy on palm oil, Rupani said. “If the Union Government had imported palm oil earlier, prices of groundnut oil would have been under control.”

Gujarat BJP President R C Faldu said climate change was responsible for high prices in edible oils. “Earlier farmers got 20 tonnes of groundnut per bigha (0.4 hectare), but now due to unfavourable climate conditions they get maximum four tonnes per bigha,” he added.