Patanjali Foods to soon reduce prices of palm, sunflower, soyabean oil by Rs 10-15 per litre

Patanjali Foods Ltd will soon cut prices of soyabean oil, sunflower oil and palm oil by Rs 10-15 per litre to pass on the benefits of fall in global prices, a top company official said.

Earlier this month, the food ministry had directed edible oil companies to reduce prices of edible oil in line with the fall in global rates. Following the Centre's direction, Mother Dairy has reduced prices by up to Rs 14 per litre and Adani Wilmar by up to Rs 30 per litre.

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"We are going to reduce prices of palm oil, sunflower oil and soyabean oil by Rs 10-15 per litre each in a day or two. But in the last 45 days, the total reduction will be Rs 30-35 per litre," Patanjali Foods CEO Sanjeev Asthana told PTI.

The effective reduction in the last 45 days, including the proposed Rs 10-15 per litre cut, would reach to Rs 30-35 per litre, he said, and pointed out that its competitors have not taken similar cuts in the last one and half months. Asthana highlighted that the global prices have come down by 15-20 per cent but said the market is very volatile.

Patanjali Foods, erstwhile Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd, sells its products under brands like Ruchi Gold, Mahakosh, Sunrich, Nutrela, Ruchi Star and Ruchi Sunlight. It is also into oil palm plantations and renewable wind energy business.

In 2019, Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved acquired Ruchi Soya, now Patanjali Foods, for Rs 4,350 crore through an insolvency process. Marico Ltd spokesperson said the company has recently revised prices downwards but did not give any detail.

"As one of India's leading consumer products’ company, Marico Ltd has always been committed to ensuring the best value and quality to our consumers across India. We have recently revised our prices downwards in our edible oils portfolio to pass on the benefits to consumers," the spokesperson of the company, which owns the Saffola brand, said.

The spokesperson further said "We are in cognisance of the Government directive issued recently, and will continue to follow their guidelines, in order to best serve our consumers by continuing to pass on the benefits in terms of reduced prices in the coming months."

India meets 60 per cent of its domestic requirement through imports. The country imported around 13 million tonnes of cooking oils during 2020-21 marketing year ending October. In the last one year, the Centre has taken various measures to bring down edible oil prices, including several rounds of reduction in import duties.