India buying Russian oil below the Western price cap, officials say The Biden administration will continue to discuss India’s purchases of Russian oil with government officials but is satisfied so far that New Delhi is buying the crude well below a western price cap, senior State Department officials told reporters on Wednesday. India’s purchases of Russian oil are a constant topic of discussion between the US and India as Washington seeks to deny Russia the revenue it needs to fund its invasion of Ukraine, the officials said. They briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. It’s good both for the Indian economy and for stabilizing oil markets that India is buying crude at deep discounts from the cap, the officials said. They spoke as Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in New Delhi for a meeting of Group of 20 foreign ministers. Blinken will try to rally his counterparts to condemn Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and highlight the impact the war has had on world food and energy prices. However, India’s ability to benefit from lower prices now faces the challenge of tightening enforcement. Refinery and banking executives reported that the need to prove imports comply with a $60-a-barrel cap imposed by the Group of Seven nations now requires additional steps and verification that may weigh on purchases. The US expects an overwhelming majority of G-20 countries to continue standing against Russia’s war, with Russia and China remaining as isolated outliers, the officials said, adding that they expect to see language in a final statement that reflects that position. The US, which has alleged that China is considering offering weapons or other lethal aid to Russia, also plans to raise that issue on the margins of the G-20, including with countries other than the close allies and partners it has already briefed about the matter, the officials said.
Retail inflation in milk was reported at 8.85% in May 2023. The milk inflation has remained elevated at over 6% since August 2022. Despite India being the largest milk producer since 1998, the commodity has been the second biggest factor after cereals such as rice and wheat in driving up retail inflation in the last fiscal.
Milk has the second highest weight in the food and beverages basket of the consumer price index at 6.61%, a notch lower than cereals and products with a 9.67% weight. Organised players, including Mother Dairy and Amul, hiked prices multiple times in the last one year citing higher fodder cost, robust demand and some impact due to reports of lumpy skin disease.
Industry sources said feed cost, which has a share of more than 65% in the cost of production of milk, has increased to Rs 20/kg from Rs 8 a year ago. The finance ministry in April had attributed the elevated milk inflation to a demand supply mismatch and said it could be one of the factors apart from volatile international crude oil prices and constrained supplies of milk would influence the country’s inflation trajectory.
“Milk production has been impacted by a lumpy skin disease infecting millions of cattle in late 2022,” the ministry said in the monthly economic review, adding that the vaccination drive against the disease is expected to curb the spread and immune the cattle against the skin disease.
According to official data, currently India is the world’s largest milk producer, and has a share of 23% in global milk production. For the first time in decades, the country’s milk production is likely to have stagnated in 2022-23 due to Lumpy Skin Disease in cattle across several states and the lagged effect of Covid-19 in the form of stunting of the animals, a senior official with department of animal husbandry and dairying recently had stated. The milk production was estimated at 221 million tonne in 2021-22.