Edible oil prices down after duty cuts

New Delhi: In a bid to reign in the continuous price rise of edible oils, the Union government on Friday said it has cut basic duty on crude palm oil, crude soyabean oil, and crude sunflower oil to nil from 2.5 per cent. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution said the agri cess on crude soyabean oil and crude sunflower oil has been brought down from 20% to 5% while agri cess on crude palm oil has been reduced to 7.5%.

The agricultural infrastructure cess on all crude edible oils was at 20% before the reduction in basic duty and agri cess. Post cuts, the effective duty on crude palm oil will be at 8.25%, and crude soybean oil and crude sunflower oil will be at 5.5%. The ministry said the import duties on palm oil, sunflower oil and soyabean oil has been rationalised, and futures trading in mustard oil on NCDEX has been suspended to control prices of edible oils. Continued on Page 5

It further said the government's intervention has resulted in major edible oils players, including Adani Willmar and Ruchi industries, cutting wholesale prices by 4 -7 per litre. The other players like Gemini Edibles & Fats India, Hyderabad, Modi Naturals, Delhi, Gokul Re-foils and Solvent, Vijay Solvex, Gokul Agro Resources and N K Proteins have also reduced the wholesale prices of edible oils.

According to the ministry, the edible oil prices are still higher than a year ago but there has been a declining trend from October onwards. "Despite international commodity prices being high, interventions have been taken by Central Government along with State Governments' proactive involvement have led to reduction in prices of edible oils," it said.