Centre reduces basic import duty on edible oils
The decision is expected to augment the earlier measures taken by the government to reduce the prices of edible oils in the domestic market.
The cut in import duty of edible oil and the government’s initiative to check prices of edible oil has started giving results and brought down the wholesale prices of edible oils.
Within a week of cutting import duty of crude and processed edible oils, wholesale prices of edible oils reported a decline, said a senior officer of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs here on Friday.
“The daily wholesale prices of packed Palm Oil dropped by 2.50% followed by Seasame Oil by 2.08%, Coconut Oil by 1.72%, packed Ground Nut Oil by 1.38%, packed Sunflower Oil by 1.30%, packed Mustard Oil by 0.97%, packed Vanaspati by 0.71% and packed Soya Oil by 0.68%,” he said.
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The government has taken another bold move to bring more transparency and check on oil prices. The Department of Food and Public Distribution is in the process of creating a web portal for monitoring the stocks of Edible Oils/Oilseeds on a weekly basis in the country, the Ministry said.
The data on the portal would be submitted by millers, refiners, stockists, and wholesalers, Besides, the States have also been issued directions for the display of retail prices prominently to ensure fair pricing.
In its notification issued in September last week, the government has reduced the import duty on crude palm oil, crude soybean oil, and crude Sunflower oil by 2.5%. Similarly, the standard rate of duty on Refined Palm Oils, Refined Soyabean oil, and Refined Sunflower Oil was reduced to 32.5% from 35 %.
During the past year, the prices of crude edible oil have registered as high as 48% in the past one year. While Mustard oil prices increased 41.96 %, Soya and Sunflower crude oil prices increased by 48 %, the Ministry said.
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