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Plea to hike import duty on crude palm oil

Our Bureau

VIJAYAWADA, Dec. 24

THE Union Government should hike the import duty on crude palm oil too, as it did on palmolein, to impart some measures of protection to the domestic oilseeds processing industry as well as the farmers, Mr M. Rajaiah, President of the Andhra Pradesh Rice Bran Oil Extractors' Association and the senior Vice-President of the Central Organisation for Oil Industry and Trade, has said.

At a press conference here on Sunday, he said the Government had increased the import duty on palmolein from a level of 45 per cent to 78.5 per cent, but even this was not proving to be sufficient as indicated by the price trends of the past fortnight. T he duty hike was nullified by the incentives given to exporters in the country of origin and further the low duty on crude palm oil was being misused, especially by the vanaspati industry, he alleged.

He said the vanaspati industry was being allowed to import crude palm oil at the concessional rate of 25 per cent and the industry was importing much more than its requirements and diverting it. Besides, refined palmolein was being imported as crude oil and this malpractice should also be checked, he said. Mr Rajaiah pleaded that the Government should enhance the duty on crude oil to the level of 78.5 per cent, as Malaysia was using India as the oil dumping ground. ``The interests of oilseed farmers and the industry should also be taken into account and the imports should be rationalised to protect the farmer, consumer and the industry,'' he said.

He also questioned the rationale and wisdom of the Government in encouraging oil palm cultivation in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, giving heavy cultivation subsidies, if it allowed indiscriminate import of palmolein. Oil palm farmers were upr ooting the palms in many areas since they were disgusted with low prices with the result that the newly-set up processing units were also suffering.

The position of the groundnut farmer was no better and rapeseed cultivation was almost becoming extinct. He urged the Government to reconsider the policy and reverse it to the extent possible.

He also urged the Government to take steps to promote the use of refined rice bran oil, which was the cheapest edible oil available, besides having no cholestrol.