For the second fortnight of this month, the Govt. has decided to keep the base prices of the edible oils unchanged. The Govt. had earlier removed duty on crude edible oil. Refined oil extracts 7.5 percent duty for all varieties like soyabean, palm and sunflower.  

Back in august 2001, the concept of fortnightly revision of tariff values for calculating customs duty was initiated to stem the losses in due to the wrongdoings of the importers.

With the aim to keep cooking oil prices in the nation low, since July 2006, the base prices of palm oil products have not been changed. Palm oil products account for majority of edible oil imports.

Presently, the RDB palm oil’s tariff value is fixed at $476 per tonne, palm oil (others) at $462, and RBD palmolein at $484 and palmolein (others) at $483.  

The imports of soyabean and palm group of oils meet the consumption of 40-50 percent of the domestic edible oil that stands at about 12 million tonnes.