Gujarat edible oil manufacturers seek duty on oil import

Rajkot: The edible oil manufacturers of Gujarat have urged the union government to impose a duty on the import of the commodity to save the local industry.
In a letter to Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal, the Gujarat State Edible Oils and Oil Seeds Association has contended that edible oil prices in the international market had dropped and government should not lose out on revenue from import duty.
The central government had reduced the duty on the import of various edible oils in phases in the last years in order to arrest food inflation.
India imports 65% of the edible oil it requires with the major portion being palm oil. In October last year, import duty on crude palm oil was slashed from 10% to 2.5%, while duty on crude sunflower and soya oil was also reduced to 2.5% from 7.5%.
The edible oil sector has been under stress recently due to an increase in the price of palm oil in the international market following its major supplier Indonesia mulling a ban on export. Secondly, with the world’s biggest producer of sunflower, Ukraine, at war with Russia, the price of the commodity has shot up significantly. Last month, the government allowed the import of 20 lakh metric tonne each of crude sunflower and soya oil duty free.
President of Gujarat State Edible Oils and Oil Seeds Association Samir Shah said, “The price of edible oils came down by 15-25% in the international market. If the government imposes import duty it won’t result in a price rise in the domestic market. In this scenario, the government should not lose its revenue. Import duty will also give protection to domestic edible oil players.”