Urging consumers to not resort to panic buying, the Odisha Traders’ Association on Monday said that the State has sufficient stock of Sunflower oil as of now and there is no need to worry.
The statement comes close on the heels of the Russian invasion in Ukraine which fuelled rumours about an imminent shortage of sunflower oil in India since Ukraine is the biggest exporter of the edible oil to the country.
As per reports, following the war in Ukraine, the import of Sunflower oil has been hit in India. Though the magnitude of the current stock deficit is yet to be known, consumers have already started to stock up their kitchen shelves fearing the worst in future.
Speaking to OTV, the Secretary of Odisha Traders’ Association, Sudhakar Panda said, “We have sufficient stock of edible oil with us like any normal times. There is no scarcity till now. Therefore, I urge the consumers to not panic and stock up huge amount of oil unnecessarily creating an artificial shortage in the market.”
Panda also accused the State government of ignoring the interests of the consumer and traders by turning a deaf ear to the repeated requests of the Traders’ body to call a meeting on the issue.
“We have been trying to draw the attention of the government so that they discuss the issue with us. But till now, we have not received any communication from them in this connection,” he said.
It is pertinent to mention here that the sudden surge in the demand of sunflower oil has made some unscrupulous traders hike the edible oil price by Rs 10-20 over and above the MRP.