Import Duty on refined palm oil reduced from 17.5% to 12.5%

To increase supply and lower the retail price of cooking oil, the government reduced the basic customs duty on refined palm oil from 17.5 percent to 12.5 percent.

The Centre “seeks to lower BCD on refined palm oil and its fractions from 17.5 percent to 12.5 percent until March 31, 2022,” according to a notification issued on Monday. On Tuesday, the order will take effect.

This comes just one day after the government announced that traders will be able to import refined palm oil without a license for another year, until December 2022.

To keep inflation in check, the market regulator SEBI restricted the sale of new derivative contracts for crude palm oil and a few other agricultural commodities.

Experts believe that by lowering the duty, the effective charge on both refined palm oil and palmoline will drop from 19.25 percent to 13.75 percent, including the social welfare cess.

According to data from the consumer affairs ministry, the average retail price of groundnut oil was Rs 181.48 per kg on Monday, mustard oil was Rs 187.43 per kg, vanaspati was Rs 138.5 per kg, soyabean oil was Rs 150.78 per kg, sunflower oil was Rs 163.18 per kg, and palm oil was Rs 129.94 per kg.

“We will deal to the matter of edible oil price and also some of the important edible goods,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha earlier in the day.

Several times this year, the government has reduced import levies on both refined and crude edible oils. The administration reduced import duties for the last time on October 14.

To Read Notification Download PDF Given Below: