Tax hike on crude palm oil imports could reduce shipments, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman
India cut the basic import tax on crude palm oil to 15% from 27.5%, but imposed a 17.5% cess - a separate tax - on the imports, Sitharaman said in her federal budget speech
PTI | February 2, 2021 | Updated 09:05 IST
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
India has imposed an additional tax on crude palm oil imports as the world s biggest importer of vegetable oils tries to build domestic agriculture infrastructure by taxing imports, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday. India cut the basic import tax on crude palm oil to 15% from 27.5%, but imposed a 17.5% cess - a separate tax - on the imports, Sitharaman said in her federal budget speech.
India has imposed an additional tax on crude palm oil imports as the world s biggest importer of vegetable oils tries to build domestic agriculture infrastructure by taxing imports, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday.
India cut the basic import tax on crude palm oil to 15% from 27.5%, but imposed a 17.5% cess - a separate tax - on the imports.
MUMBAI: India has imposed an additional tax on crude palm oil imports as the world s biggest importer of vegetable oils tries to build domestic agriculture infrastructure by taxing imports, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday.
India cut the basic import tax on crude palm oil to 15% from 27.5%, but imposed a 17.5% cess - a separate tax - on the imports, Sitharaman said in her federal budget speech.
The cess would provide resources for an immediate need to improve agricultural infrastructure, Sitharaman said.
01 Feb 2021 / 22:01 H. Palm oil has lost the big advantage it had over soyoil and sunflower oil in the Indian edible oils market – REUTERSPIX
MUMBAI: India has imposed an additional tax on crude palm oil (CPO) imports as the world s biggest importer of vegetable oils tries to build domestic agriculture infrastructure by taxing imports, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday.
India cut the basic import tax on CPO to 15% from 27.5%, but imposed a 17.5% cess – a separate tax – on the imports, Sitharaman said in her federal budget speech. The cess would provide resources for an immediate need to improve agricultural infrastructure, she said.
Article content
India’s palm oil imports have been rising since December 2020 after the country had cut its import tax on the oil to 27.5% in late November.
India buys palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, while other oils including soyoil and sunflower oil come from Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine and Russia.
Palm oil was earlier attracting 8.25% less import duty than sunflower and soyoil, said Sudhakar Desai, president of the Indian Vegetable Oil Producers’ Association, adding “Now that difference has reduced to just 2.75%.”
Refiners have already bought palm oil for February shipments, but they could trim purchases for March shipments, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm. (Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav, editing by Louise Heavens and Jane Merriman)