Inflation pulls down demand for cooking oil, Basmati, chicken

Rising prices and inflationary pressure have pulled down demand for branded basmati rice, cooking oil and chicken by up to 15% in March compared to the same time last year.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine that started in last week of February has seen global commodity prices surging as supply chain was disrupted.

Global prices of basmati rice had gone up by $200 per tonne since the war started.


"The impact of global price rise is also being felt in the domestic market. This has tapered the demand in the Indian market. It is down by 15 per cent. We are seeing that people are shifting to regional rice varieties, which are comparatively lesser priced than basmati," said Gurnam Arora, joint managing director, Kohinoor Foods that sells basmati rice under the Kohinoor brand name.

Even prices of regional varieties of rice have seen a price hike as export demand is robust.