Industry officials said that an edible oil import by India has slowed down considerably in the first nine months of the oil year because of a hike in duties. They said further increase in import duties could again hit imports. The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India said the country’s edible oil imports rose to 2.99m tonnes in the nine months of the ‘99-00 (Nov-Oct) oil year from 2.98 mt in the year-ago period. India’s vegetable oil imports fell to 414,420 tonnes in July from 534,306 tonnes in the same month last year, the trade bodies said. The July figures are provisional. Industry officials said imports had been hit by the govt.’s decision in June to hike the duty on edible oils to curb surging imported from Malaysia, forms the bulk of country’s edible oil imports. Soft oils such as soya and sunflower imported from Argentina, Brazil and the United States from the remainder. |
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