INDIA BAN PALM OIL IMPORTS  

• The government on Wednesday put restrictions on import of refined palm oils.

According to a notification of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), “import policy” is amended from “free to restricted” for refined bleached deodorised palm oil .

Both refined and crude edible oils were under the free category of foreign trade, resulting an unrestricted inflow into the country. Now refined palm oil can be imported only after obtaining an import licence while crude oils can continued to be shipped in on the basis of the import export code, without the requirement of any kind of licences.

According to the Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA), a trade body, the existing refining capacity in the country is around 30 million tonnes, but only 45% this is being utilised.

“By putting refined edible oils in the restricted category, the import of crude oil will increase and domestic refiners will get business and in turn jobs will also be created. Currently, due to lower tariffs, refined oils are directly imported and packaged for selling in market.”

The country imports around 15 million tonnes of edible oil a year, forking out Rs 70,000 crore. “Out of this, around 20% is refined oils and the rest is crude. Now more crude oil will be imported.”

India imports only palm oil in both refined and crude forms while other edible oils like sunflower, soyabean and rapeseed are imported only in the crude form.