Government of India has decided to remove import duty on crude soybean oil and crude sunflower oil by June. Government has clarified on import duty exemption that import of soya oil and sunflower oil shipped before March 31 will be kept free as confusion over import rules resulted in hundreds of thousands of cargoes stuck at ports.
Notably, earlier this year the world’s largest importer of vegetable oils ended import duty exemptions on 2 million tonnes of crude sunflower oil and soy oil for the current fiscal year beginning April 1. Dealers said the move had resulted in the stuck up of about 90,000 tonnes of cargo loaded at Indian ports, which were loaded before March 31.
Sandeep Bajoria, CEO of vegetable oil brokerage and consultancy firm Sunwin Group, said some cargoes were stuck at ports for the past few weeks. Now after the new order of the government, they can enter the country. India mainly imports soy oil from Argentina, Brazil and the United States and sunflower oil from Russia and Ukraine.
BV Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors Association of India, says that the government notification will provide relief to importers. At the same time, imports will reduce the prices of local oilseeds. Along with this, the income of the farmers will also decrease. He further said that India’s palm oil imports may also fall in May as the availability of soya and sunflower oil will increase. Five dealers reported last week that April palm oil imports fell 3 percent from a month earlier to a 14-month low.