<span style="color: #222222;">Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Ashwini Kumar Choubey today informed the Lok Sabha that all India average retail prices of the 22 essential food items have shown upward pressure since the outbreak of Russia-Ukraine conflict. In a written reply, he said taking into account price trends, the Government has taken various measures from time to time to augment domestic availability and stabilize prices of essential food commodities. Mr. Choubey said these steps include releases from the buffer to cool down prices, imposition of stock limits, monitoring of stocks declared by entities to prevent hoarding as also requisite changes in trade policy instruments like rationalization of import duty and changes in import quota.</span><br />