Apparently panicky over surge in edible oil imports in the country, driven by current low prices of the edible oils, the Soybean Processors Association of India on Thursday urged the Union Finance Minister to increase customs duty on crude oils to 25 per cent and on refined oils to 30 per cent. The increase in import duty on crude and refined oils, SOPA feels, would protect interest of local farmers and industry and would also help the country offset its advance trade balance.
In separate letters to the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, Union Agriculture Minister and the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, the SOPA Chairman Davish Jain while drawing their attention towards India’s huge imports of over 11 million tonnes of edible oil, with an import bill over Rs 65,000 crore, said it has made the country a dumping ground for cheap palm and soybean oil.
The soybean industry is greatly concerned over the burgeoning edible oil imports of over 11 millions tones annually with an import bill of Rs 65,000 crore. This is not only adding to India’s adverse trade balance but is also severely hurting the local producers and farmers, said SOPA chairman in his letters to Union Finance and other Union ministers. He said of the total import of edible oils, the import of soy edible oil alone are likely to surge to 3 MT in oil year 2014-15 as against domestic oil production of only 1.6 MT.
This is a serious situation as unrestricted imports of edible oils are ruining the domestic soy oil industry for a product which is a vital food item of mass consumption, the Association said in its letter, requesting Jaitley to raise custom duty on crude oils to 25 per cent and refined oils to 30 per cent to help the domestic soy oil industry.