The Director General of Foreign Trade under the Department of Commerce, Government of India, has released a notification amending the import policy associated with certain edible oils including palm oil and made its import ‘free’ from the existing ‘restricted’ policy.
The policy amendments shall remain for six months.
As per the notification, the import policy related to refined bleached de-odorized palm oil and refined bleached de-odorized palmolein shall now be ‘free’.
The notification states that the import policy of the items under HS Code 1511 90 is hereby amended with immediate effect and will remain true for the period up to December 31, 2021.
Nevertheless, the notification further added that the imports will not be allowed through any port in Kerala.
It is relevant to mention here that the edible oil prices were rising uncontrollably high during the last few months and gave rise to a lot of uneasiness amongst the trading community.
In the interim, the Government has also cut down the import duty on crude palmolein by 10% from 15%. Shankar Thakkar, chairman of All India Edible Oil Traders Federation, has mentioned that while the move was welcome, the Government should take another look at the time limit, as the decision shall only last until 30th September.
He asserted that the restriction of the timeline would solely benefit the importers, and not the general public.