Need to increase import duty on edible oils to increase oilseed production
20-Jun-2024 08:16 PM
New Delhi. All the organizations of the indigenous vegetable oil industry and trade sector believe that to achieve the goal of self-sufficiency in domestic production of oilseed crops, it is necessary to increase the import duty on edible oils.
The price of edible oil imported from abroad should be higher or at least equal to the price of indigenous edible oil in the domestic market.
When the indigenous crushing-processing industry gets a level playing field, it will move forward to buy oilseeds from farmers at a higher price.
It is known that when the global market price of soybean oil, sunflower oil and palm oil reached a new record level, the price of soybean and mustard in India also jumped and reached an all-time high. Since India is the largest importer of edible oils in the world, the domestic market price gets affected by every fluctuation in the global market.
The production of oilseed crops is increasing in India, but it is not enough. The demand and consumption of edible oils is increasing at a much faster rate, due to which a huge gap remains.
During the last marketing season, the import of edible oils in the country had reached a new record because the government had drastically reduced the customs duty on it.
SOPA had recently sent a letter to the Union Agriculture Minister saying that the condition of the indigenous industry has worsened due to the huge import of foreign edible oils and the area and production of oilseed crops are not increasing as expected.
Soybean producers are also struggling hard to get the minimum support price. In view of this, there is an urgent need to increase the import duty on edible oils and agricultural cess should also be imposed on it.
Solvent Extractors Association of India (SIA) had also urged the government several times to increase the import duty on edible oils.
The industry hopes that the government can make some efforts in this direction in the next general budget.