About 24% Indian homes reduce edible oil consumption due to high prices

At the same time, 67% of respondents pruned spending in other areas to pay for higher edible oil prices

Around 24 per cent of Indian households that participated in a survey said that they have been forced to reduce their consumption of edible oils due to a sharp spike in its retail rates, while 29 per cent said they have downgraded their cooking oil to available cheaper alternatives due to the hike. The Survey was conducted between March 23 to April 7 this year that is 2022.

The survey which was conducted by Local circles was derived out of responses from around 36,000 consumers spread across 359 districts of India. It has been shared with select media outlets including Business Standard.

It also found that 67 per cent of the respondents have reduced or lowered their spending in other areas to pay for higher edible oil prices.

Almost 63 per cent of the respondents in the survey were men while 37 per cent were women.

Edible oil prices of all the varieties have seen a spike in the last many months due to sharp increase in global markets.

India, which imports almost 55-60 per cent of its annual edible oil consumption due to low domestic oilseeds production expectedly bore the brunt of high international rates.

The Centre has stepped in multiple times with calibrated reduction in import duties bringing them to almost ‘nil ‘in case of most crude edible oils and marginal in case of refined oils.

The measures had ensured that edible oil prices in the domestic markets had started softening since November 2021, but the Russia-Ukraine crisis along with export curbs in major edible oils producing countries like Indonesia has once again pushed up prices for Indian consumers since February 2022.

Russia and Ukraine account for more than 80 per cent of the 2.5-2.7 million tonnes of annual sunflower oil imported into India.

Latest data sourced from the department of consumer affairs shows that though retail price of most edible oils in India has softened from their peaks, it is still significantly higher as compared to the same period last year.

So for example, the data showed that the average all India retail price of groundnut oil in the country was almost 9 per cent more than the same period last year as on April 11, while that of mustard oil was 25 per cent more as compared to last year.

Average retail price of soyoil on April 11, was almost 22 per cent higher in 2022 than the same day last year, while that of palm oil was 21 per cent higher.

The survey meanwhile, showed that among edible oils, most Indian households prefer to use sunflower, peanut and mustard oil for cooking.