| Duty hike : No
effect on veg. oil import
According to officials the govt.’s long awaited move to raise import duties on vegetable oils has fallen short of market expectations and is unlikely to derail imports, traders and industry. India, the world’s leading edible oil importer, is instead expected to force Malaysia, the world’s top palm oil exporter, to reduce prices in the near-term to compensate for the higher duties. India was the biggest buyer of Malaysian palm oil in ’99, taking 2.38m tonnes or a quarter of Malaysia’s total exports compared with 1.36m tonnes in ’98. "Due to rising production and low costs, Malaysia has no choice but to cut prices since India is the main market. Local vanaspati manufactures (hydrogenated vegetable oil makers) will have to use a minimum of 25 % of domestic oils, traders said. This is the only factor that could restrict imports is the government’s ruling. Traders said that the effective duty for RBD palmolein will now work out to 44 % from the earlier duty of about 33%. Palmolein, mostly imported from Malaysia, forms the bulk of India’s vegetable oil imports. |
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