The Finance Minister has asked the states governments to take stern action against hoarders to rein in prices of essential commodities. Addressing the state Food Ministers Conference in New Delhi today, Arun Jaitley said that the hoarders are taking advantage of the forecast of below normal monsoon. Mr Jaitley said, the Centre will extend all support to states to book the hoarders. Stating that prices of some food items increase every year during the July-December period due to hoarding, the Minister asked the states to assess the problem as action taken after price rise creates panic in the market. The Finance Minister said, Onion prices are lower than last year and there is no panic situation. He also mentioned that prices of onion, potato, rice, pulses and milk have increased because of different reasons. On 2nd of this month, the Government had further hiked the minimum export price of onion to 500 Dollars per metric tonne to improve domestic supply. Noting that prices of crude oil have increased due to tension in Iraq, Mr Jaitley said there are, however, indications of softening of prices.