VIJAYAWADA: Taking advantage of the Russia-Ukraine war, which is having a cascading effect on prices of all commodities—especially edible oil such as sunflower oil and palmolein oil—across the globe, a few traders in the State were found trying to create artificial scarcity of edible oil by hoarding the same.
Officials of the Legal Metrology department carried out raids on Thursday and Friday in Patamata where they found some traders charging an additional Rs 30-Rs 50 per litre of oil.
The cost of both sunflower and palmolein oil ranges between Rs 105 and Rs 150 based on the brand. However, the cost of sunflower oil has risen to Rs 180 per litre while Palmolein oil was being sold at Rs 150. “A week ago, I purchased a tin of sunflower oil at a cost of Rs 120 per kg. The same increased by Rs 50 on Friday. Though there is no official statement or information on prices being increased due to short supply of edible oils from the war-hit countries, traders are charging extra bucks claiming scarcity in the market. On an average, a family of four has to shell an additional sum of Rs 500 per month for edible oil,” rued Ramana, a resident of Suryaraopet.
Speaking to TNIE, deputy commissioner of Legal Metrology B Ramkumar said anticipating that a short supply of edible oil from the war-torn countries will directly affect the retailer chain, a large number of traders are trying to indulge in irregularities such as increasing the prices and hoarding the stocks to create an artificial scarcity of commodities in the market.
Traders in Vijayawada city and other districts are taking advantage of the situation and hiking prices on an average of Rs 50 per kg oil, he added. “The issue of some traders selling edible oil at prices higher than Maximum Retail Price (MRP) came to our notice. Following this, we raided a few shops in the past two days. During our inspection, we found some tainted traders were charging more than the MRP claiming there is a shortage of stock in the market,” said DC Ramkumar.
He informed that Joint Collectors of the districts have issued orders to keep an eye on these illegal practices. Special teams will be formed to check whether the traders are limiting the stocks according to law. “Wholesalers need to report the officials concerned on the stock records every day and no one should violate rules by keeping excess stock with them. We also warned traders not to sell the edible oil or any other commodities beyond the MRP,” he said.
Expressing concern over some traders printing new prices and claiming it as new stock, Ramkumar said, “Printing new prices on their own is a glaring violation. We request public to report authorities if they come across such practices so that officials concerned can take action against the errant traders.”