MUMBAI, Feb 12 (Reuters) - India's palm oil imports jumped 31% in January from a year earlier as lower import taxes prompted refiners to increase purchases of the tropical oil, while soyoil and sunflower oil imports fell, a trade body said on Thursday.The country imported 780,741 tonnes of palm oil last month, while soyoil imports plunged 66% to 88,667 tonnes "as truckers strikes in Argentina seriously affected loading during November," the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.
Import duty reduction from November 2, 2020, on crude palm oil (CPO) was reduced to 27.5 per cent from 37.5 per cent, while duty on soft oils remained unchanged at 35 per cent, which encouraged larger import of palm oil, SEA added.
The edible oil industry on Monday welcomed the announcement of agricultural development cess and the increase in import duty of crude palm oil in the Union Budget 2021-22, saying that the measures are expected to protect the interests of mustard farmers. The announcement of agricultural development cess is a welcome move and hopefully the revenue from cess on edible oils would be utilised for augmenting domestic production of oilseeds, Solvent Extractor s Association of India (SEA) President Atul Chaturvedi said in a statement. As per our understanding the effective import duty on CPO (crude palm oil) has gone up to 35.75 per cent, while at the same time import duty on soya and sunflower oil has remained unchanged at 38.5 per cent.
Duty cut pushes CPO import up by 18% in Dec
January 15, 2021
Although import duty on CPO was reduced by 10%, the import duty on other soft oils remained unchanged
Although import duty on CPO was reduced by 10%, the import duty on other soft oils remained unchanged×
India imported 7,48,006 tonnes of crude palm oil in December, 2020
Our Bureau
A 10 per cent duty reduction on the import of crude palm oil (CPO) on November 27 has helped boost CPO import during December, according to the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA).
India imported 7,48,006 tonnes of CPO during December 2020 as against 6,31,824 tonnes in the corresponding period of 2019, recording a growth of 18.38 per cent.
India's palm oil imports rose 4% in December from a year earlier, as reduction in the import tax prompted refiners to increase purchases of the edible oil, while soyoil imports doubled, a leading trade body said on Thursday.