Govt raises import duty on edible oils to boost local prices

The Dollar Business Bureau

The Government has raised the import duty on nearly all the edible oils in a bid to control cheap imports and to boost domestic prices to support the local refiners and farmers. 

“Import duty on crude palm oil has been increased to 30% from 15% and on refined oil to 40% from 25%,” according to notification (No.87/2017-customs), issued by the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance.

Import duty on sunflower oils, soyabean oil, canola/mustard oils, including crude as well as refined format, has been increased, the notification said.

The basic custom duty on crude palm oil has been doubled to 30%, whereas the import duty on refined crude palm oil been raised to 40% from the current 25%, it said.

In addition, the basic custom duty on crude soyabean oil import has been hiked to 30% from 17.5%, while the import duty of refined soyabean oil has been increased to 35% from the 20%.

Likewise, the Government has also increased the import duty on crude sunflower oil to 25% from the current 12.5, whereas the refined sunflower oil will attract a basic suctom duty of 35% instead of 20%.

Also, the basic custom duty on the imports of crude canola/rapeseed/mustard oils has been raised to 25% from 12.5%, whereas on refined crude canola/rapeseed/mustard oils, the import duty has been increased to 35% from 20%.

India, the world's biggest importer of edible oils, imported around 154.5 lakh tonnes of edible and non-edible oils in the marketing year 2016-17 (November-October), an increase of 4.75% compared to 147.38 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.

India mainly buys palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia and a marginal quantity of soyabean oil from Latin America. The country imports sunflower oil from Ukraine and Russia.