Refined edible oil import surges in May

Monthly import of refined edible oil surged last month, to 2,94,409 tonnes, about 22 per cent of the overall import of 1.03 million tonnes. After a high of 245,554 tonnes in December 2016, refined oil import fell to 196,623 tonnes in January, 20-21 per cent of the entire import of edible oil. “Refined edible oil (refined, bleached and diodised or RBD) import into India started increasing thereafter, following export duty levy by the governments of Indonesia and Malaysia, which made import of crude palm oil (CPO) costlier than refined oil,” said B V Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors' Association of India. To promote local processing industry, the two governments had levied an export duty of four per cent on RBD and 12 per cent on CPO. With this, the duty differential of 7.5 per cent into India got nullified, making the import of RBD into India eventually cheaper than CPO. The industry, therefore, has urged the government to keep the duty differential between RBD and CPO at a minimum of 15 per cent, to promote edible oil processing in India. Financial Astrology Tips