MillenniumPost
Business

Farm and rural workers suffer punishing 11.2% retail inflation

The respective rates of price rise were 13.43 per cent and 13.27 per cent in November last year.
The overall Consumer Price Index-Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL) and Consumer Price Index-Rural Labourers (CPI-RL) came down to 765 points and 766 points, respectively, in December from a level of 777 points for both in November, an official release said.

Inflation based on food index of CPI-AL and CPI-RL are 11.57 per cent and 11.23 per cent respectively during December, 2013, the release said. The overall food inflation index for farm and rural workers came down to 752 points and 753 points in December from the levels of 771 points and 772 points respectively in November last year. The retail inflation index for farm and rural workers in respect of Punjab registered the maximum decrease of 27 and 24 points respectively mainly due to fall in prices of rice, gram dal, onion, ginger, vegetables & fruits and gur. The fall and rise in index varied from state to state. Haryana with 841 points topped the index table whereas Himachal Pradesh with the index level of 622 points stood at the bottom, the release said.

The index numbers for farm and rural labourers registered the maximum increase of 6 and 5 points respectively in Kerala mainly due to increase in the prices of wheat atta, tapioca, pulses, coconut oil, onion, vegetables & fruits, fish fresh, tamarind and tea readymade.

Meanwhile, onion exports rose 59% in April-December period


New Delhi:
Onion exports in value terms during April-December period of 2013-14 have risen by 59 per cent to Rs 2,532 crore on account of higher export price fixed by the government.

Exports during the same period in 2012-13 fiscal stood at Rs 1,590.79 crore, according to National Horticultural Research Development Foundation (NHRDF) data. In the entire 2012-13 discal, the country had exported onions worth Rs 2,294.90 crore. During April-December period of 2013-14, in quantity terms onion exports declined by 30 per cent to 9.87 lakh tonnes as compared with 14.04 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period of previous financial year. India exported 18.22 lakh tonnes of onions in the entire 2012-13 fiscal.

The government imposed MEP on onion in September and then it was raised several times to curb exports and boost domestic supplies as retail prices had shot up as high as Rs 100 per kg in major parts of the country. The country had to even import onion to control price rise. On 26 December, onion MEP, which is the benchmark price below which the commodity cannot be exported, was reduced to $150 a tonne from $350 a tonne.

Before that, MEP was reduced to $350 per tonne from $800 a tonne on December 19, while it was cut to $800 a tonne from $1,150 on 16 December.

With improved domestic supplies and fall in wholesale rates, the Centre has now reduced the MEP sharply to boost exports and stabilise the domestic prices.
Next Story
Share it