Food inflation rose sharply to 6.19% in January from 4.58% in December, led by rising prices of most segments Livemint.com The union government on Wednesday sold 385,000 tonnes of wheat worth ₹901 crore in the open market, in the second round of a planned auction of three million tonnes it plans to offload from the central pool to counter rising prices of the key foodgrain. The move assumes significance as India’s retail inflation...

The World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2022, released in December 2022, provides its readers a plethora of useful statistics and data across the countries pertaining to agriculture and food security. The yearbook by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) primarily covers four themes -- Economic Dimensions of Agriculture; Production, Trade and Prices of Commodities; Food Security and Nutrition; and Sustainability and Environmental Aspects of Agriculture.  While going through the report,...

-Business Standard Claims that GM mustard will lead to increased yield are incorrect; we must focus on other solutions. India is the fifth-largest producer and also the seventh-largest importer of edible oils in the world. Though significant progress has been made in the production and yield of oilseeds in India, our annual vegetable oil import has been about $10 billion in recent years. The Ministry of Environment is allowing for genetically modified...

-Hindustan Times Retail inflation in November dipped below 6% for the first time in 11 months, beating analyst estimates, on the back of a sharp deceleration in food prices, especially of vegetables and edible oils, although a spike in cereal prices is a matter of concern. New Delhi: Retail inflation in November dipped below 6% for the first time in 11 months, beating analyst estimates, on the back of a sharp deceleration...

There is some respite expected for India in terms of prices of imported commodities. This may ease the depletion of its foreign exchange reserves. The country has faced a widening of its merchandise trade deficit from US$ -17.91 billion to US$ -26.91 billion between October 2021 and October 2022. The commodity price data provided by the World Bank in December 2022 (termed as The Pink Sheet) shows that energy prices plummeted by...