Resumption of imports will cool off prices of edible oils, says Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

The prices of edible oils will now be reduced with the resumption of imports of crude and palm oils, said union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday.

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, the union minister said that prices had risen due to India's high dependence on imports of edible oils and the change in the production of oilseeds.

"Because of the way oil seeds production has been affected and India's high dependence on edible oil import is very high, the prices have gone up. Last year, crude and refined palm oil were not being imported at all. Now imports have resumed. This will immediately cool off the prices of edible oil," she told reporters.

Speaking about the high prices of pulses, she said that import provisions had been invoked that would bring in more pulses into the market and prices would also cool off.

"Karnataka is a pulse-growing state. In 2015-16 because of a special drive that the PM took to give a bonus to farmers who were growing pulses, there was a good production. From that point, there has been a fall in the production of pulses. Therefore we end up importing from Myanmar, and other countries," she said.

She added, "Import provisions have also been invoked and a lot of pulses will come into the market now and prices will cool down."

( With inputs from ANI )

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