The Government to hike import duty on edible oils by 12.5% and 15%. This is likely to safeguard the interest of the farmers and protect the country from cheap edible oil imports, and better prices for farmers.

Over the weekend, government hiked import duty on crude soybean oil by 12.5% to 30%, soybean refined oil by 15% to 35%, crude palm oil by 15% to 30%, RBD palm oil by 15% to 40%, sunflower crude oil by 12.5% to 25% and sunflower refined oil by 15% to 35%.

The move is expected to keep a check on cheap imports of edible oils. However, this measure will not reduce dependency on edible oil imports as the country meets about 65 to 70% of the requirements through imports.

The government had last increased import duty by 5% and 10 % in August 2017. The import duty has been hiked back-to-back to safeguard the interests of farmers.

Source: Times of India