Government alerts about food inflation, restrictions on export of wheat, onion, sugar will continue

Regarding food inflation, the administration appears to be fully aware of the situation. Piyush Goyal, the minister of consumer affairs, announced on Saturday that the export of food products like wheat, onions, sugar, and regular rice will remain prohibited for the time being. When the export prohibition on certain products is removed, there's a chance that their retail costs will go up.

He claimed that because the government also looks out for farmers' interests, onions are bought in large quantities at the federal level. The government is purchasing onions from regions like Ahmednagar, Nashik, Hoshangabad, Solapur and Pune at the rate of Rs 19-23 per kg.

Given the rising prices of onion, the export of onion was completely banned a few months ago. Similarly, due to fear of low sugar production, the export of sugar was also banned. The ban on the export of wheat has been in place for more than a year.

At 5.69 per cent, the retail inflation rate for December hit its highest point in the previous four months. In December of last year, the retail inflation rate of food products was 4.19 per cent, while at the same time, the rate of inflation for food items jumped to 9.53 per cent.