Centre likely to hold Price Monitoring Committee meeting on Friday to check rising cost of edible oil

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New Delhi: In a move to check the COVID-19-hit prices of the edible oil, the Centre is likely to hold a Price Monitoring Committee on Friday (January 15, 2021).

According to sources, the Committee may recommend to keep prices under control and may also suggest the reduction of import duty. 

Earlier in November 2020, the Central government had cut the import duty on the same.

The edible oil prices have seen a huge jump due to the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Notably, the edible oil is India's third-largest imported commodity after crude oil and gold. India is also reportedly the world's largest importer of edible oil and buys around 15 million tonnes annually from countries.

Meanwhile, reports suggest that edible oil consumers have made a significant shift to soft oils such as sunflower oil, mustard oil, soyabean oil etc.