MUMBAI: Following the steep surge in oilseed production in 2017, Maharashtra government, in an attempt to give relief to oilseed farmers, has demanded a hike in import duty on edible oils, a CMO official said on Thursday.
The state government demanded import duty on refined and crude edible oils to be raised from the current levels of 12.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent to 50 per cent and 35 per cent respectively.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis raised the demand in a letter written to Union minister of state for commerce and industries (independent charge) Nirmala Sitaraman, the senior CMO official said.
Fadnavis, in his letter gave the precedents from the past when the rates were raised. In 2000, the import duty on crude palm oil was 16 per cent and in 2001, it was raised to 75 percent, he wrote.
He also pointed out that the import duty on edible oils fluctuated between 2.5 per cent and 65 per cent between 2000 and 2013. Since 2015, the rates have been stable between 7.5 per cent and 12.5 per cent. The low import duty was causing troubles for the domestic producers of oil seeds, the letter said.
The per quintal rates of soybean was Rs 3800 in 2014, Rs 3500 in 2015, Rs 3450 in 2016 and slipped to Rs 2700 in 2017. The MSP for soybean currently stands at Rs 3050.
A direct correlation between the import duty on edible oils and the prices of oilseeds in domestic markets is well established. Hence, an increase in the import duty will help the state government in procuring the oilseeds at MSP.
In addition, the increase in import duty would cause no problem for the customers and the government too would be able to get an additional revenue of around Rs 8000 crore, the letter said while requesting the increase of up to 35 and 50 percent.