HEADLINES:
Urgent need to tackle food crisis
‘Thailand will not cut rice exports’
Sanction loans on repayment capacity: RBI
RIL to sow Rs 1K cr in agri goods terminals
Retail chains innovate to cut consumers’ food bill
Japan mulls rice flour subsidies as wheat prices rise
Govt to give subsidised edible oil through PDS from June
Flower exporters get additional duty credit
Business Line
Urgent need to tackle food crisis
While the worst of the global credit crisis may be over, as some observers suggest, there may be another crisis looming. The first crisis was a case of men in suits paying the price for their greed. The latter is potentially more serious: Millions of the world’s poor could end up literally dying of hunger if food prices continue to soar. Social unrest could also intensify. It is bad enough that oil prices have reached almost $120 per barrel, which has the effect of raising many other prices. Alarmingly, the same speculators who helped lift oil prices to today’s giddy heights may have turned their attention to more basic soft commodities. Rising Prices As early as last December,
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The Prime Minister of Thailand, Mr. Samak Sundaravej, promised on Sunday that the kingdom would not cut rice exports, as soaring prices of
Sanction loans on repayment capacity: RBI
RBI has said banks should sanction loans to farmers after taking into account their repayment capacity. The internal working group of the RBI, looking into the Radhakrishna committee report, said that household approach could be adopted but loans should be sanctioned carefully.
RIL to sow Rs 1K cr in agri goods terminals
Reliance Industries Ltd , the Adani group, ITC and MCDX are planning huge back-end operations to create captive agricultural bases, either for their own retail outlets or for supplying to others, it is learnt. RIL has firmed up plans to set up terminal Markets in nine Indian cities with an initial investment of around Rs 1,000 crore. Confirming this, a senior RIL executive said the company was looking at
Retail chains innovate to cut consumers’ food bill
RETAILERS ARE devising interesting ways to battle the surge in prices and to bring customers back to their stores. Since the impact of inflation has been highest in food and grocery, these are the innovation crucibles for retailers. “We will offer a 20 per cent discount on a patron’s food bill for any purchase of and over Rs 750,” said Rajan Malhotra, CEO of Big Bazaar. So, if someone buys furniture worth Rs 750, she can get a Rs 150 discount on a grocery bill of Rs 750. Malhotra added that this promotion would run in all the 85 Big Bazaar outlets for 11 days. He is betting on cross-promotion. “While normally we would do business of Rs 70 crore in these 11 days, with this promotion, we expect Rs 130140 crore,” he said. Other retailers, too, are planning their own measures around ballooning food prices. Spinach, for example, is introducing weekend offers for products whose prices have shot up significantly “We are not passing on the entire impact of the price rise on to consumers. We are also negotiating hard with sup- pliers,” said Pushpamitra Das, official spokesperson for Spinach. There are 50 Spinach stores countrywide. Das does not deny sales have declined marginally due to inflation. “In addition, we have introduced weekend offers for mangoes, onions and tomatoes. On weekends, for instance, tomatoes are available for Rs 12.50 per kg and onions are sold for Rs 4.90 per kg,” Das added. Sanjiv Goenka, vice-chairman of RPG Enterprises, which runs the Spencer’s stores, said, “We have some plans but that is information we will not like to share.” He said efforts were on to build more excitement around food. The group, which has 400 Spencer’s outlets, will add another 400 by March 2009. Mohit Khattal: president, marketing, Subhiksha, said, “It is true that in certain food categories, manufacturers have increased prices, but Subhiksha continues to offer greater value to consumers by keeping prices consistently lower” He added that prices of pulses and edible oils had seen the biggest jumps. However, the chain does not plan any promotion around food for now.
The Economic Times
Govt to give subsidised edible oil through PDS from June
The families covered under below poverty line and Antoday Anna Yojana categories are likely to get edible oils at cheaper rate from ration shops from first week of June. We will roll out the subsidised edible oil scheme from June, a senior government official said. Under the scheme, the government would provide one litre of imported edible oils such as RBD palmolein and refined soya oil per month to BPL and AAY categories, he added. The government, battling high inflation rate, on April 16 announced a Rs 15 per kg subsidy on edible oils through PDS to contain rising prices.
The Tribune
The 4th annual Food and Technology Expo will be held from May 3 to 5 at Pragati Maidan here. Kesar Singh Gupta, chairman of NNS, said that over 100 prominent government and private organisations would participate in the three-day expo. Rajesh Gupta, managing director of NNS said the exhibition provides a platform to transact business with food processing and related industries.
Flower exporters get additional duty credit
FLOWERS will be eligible for an additional duty credit equivalent to 2.5% of FOB value of exports over and above the credit available under Vishesh Krishi & Gram Udyog Yojana. In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Union commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath said that the move was aimed at helping the industry overcome the disadvantage of high freight in floriculture exports. The minister pointed out that while there was no proposal with the government for setting up new flower export zones; six agri-export zones have been set up for promoting export of floriculture products. This includes two in Tamil Nadu and one each in Karnataka,