A Digital Initiative by DCA to Monitor Essential Food Commodities |
Posted: April 11, 2018 |
Commodity Markets allow commercial consumers and producers to offset the risk of the future price movement in the essential commodities which they are selling and buying. Plus, the price of commodities is subject to supply and demand. This is the main principle to drive commodities markets. The lower the supply drives up demand which equals/equivalent to higher prices and vice-versa. The result, shortfalls in the availability of commodities. The shortfall is not only the major downfall but also hike in prices of essential commodities which is very frequent in local markets. Many consumers and wholesale business owners are facing the same thing on regular basis. Why is it happening?Unlike, the Stock market, Commodity market based on the trading of physical substances like food, grains, metals, and energy sources. Especially food and grains which are largely used for consumption purposes. Most importantly, these are the necessities. Ultimately, the increase in price will leave a little room for other expenditure. A large no. of companies and food-related commodities are listed in the market. And if the price of tomato rises, so will the price of tomato sauce! The manufacturer company and restaurants will be most affected by it. And to overcome this, they will raise the prices of tomato-based products and dishes. In the end, this will put an impact on the stock market as well. Price Monitoring PortalIndian Government and Consumer Affairs are mostly unaware of commodities prices variation with localities. Which is why the Consumers Affairs Ministry finally took a step to analyze the pricing situation and developed a software to collect the prices of 22 essential food commodities where consumers, retail & wholesale business owners, voluntary consumer organizations, and local citizens can share the prices on these 22 food commodities of their respective locality. This is a portal which has been uploaded on its website to cover a large area. The Price Monitoring Cell (PMC) of the ministry will monitor and analyze these data and give feedback to take appropriate policy measures to minimize the situation of different prices and a shortfall of these 22 essential commodities. 22 Essential Food Commodities:These 22 commodities are related to 5 different groups as follows:
According to Ministry, users will only have to register on the portal which will generate a user id and password to enter the prices of commodities in their localities. Final Thoughts:The initiative took by DCA by developing a digital portal to address the complaints of local citizens, consumers, retail & wholesale business owners related to MRPs, the sudden shortfall in supplies of essential commodities will help our Indian Government to take necessary measures in such situations. Plus, this will improve the commodity trading especially when food & grains is one of the three commodity exchanges that allows trading in commodities.
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