War in Middle East hits essential commodities in Odisha

Low income group face uphill task in maintaining their livelihood

By Shrikant Panda

Cuttack:  War in West Asia, rise in petroleum products, rise in transportation costs and gradual nose-diving Rupee value has deeply impacted essential commodities. All the grocery items have become more costly resulting customers of any economic group bear the burnt in this horrible situation and their purchasing power is gradually waning for sure. Recent surge in petroleum products have pushed the prices of essential commodities up and on account of this Grocery owner, Wholesaler and Go down owners have imposed transportation cost on the consumers.

War in Middle East and surge in petro products resulted hike in all essential commodities like edible oil, numerous varieties of pulses and sugar or any grocery items. It’s worth mentioning that India imports forty percent of edible oil from foreign countries and though there is no shortage of edible oil in the country but it’s being sold in an elevated price, therefore PM Modi has called for to minimize the use of edible oil and petro products in the country. Rise in dollar value in comparison to Rupee being another headache, our foreign exchange reserve is falling in recent times and it will ramp up market price in every commodity definitely. Crisis in West Asia is definitely disrupting supply lines and if Gulf of Hormuz is not opened then we will face shortage of agricultural fertilizers and raw materials. This route has been a life line for India to meet our energy and trade needs and if this situation remains stagnant then inflation will skyrocket for sure as it has been evident recently.

Hope, USA and Iran makes a deal as quick as possible with Gulf of Hormuz by Iran and Gulf of Oman be opened by USA with immediate effect so that every economy can grow in tandem with other big economies and free trade must continue in this route without any impediment.