The Hindu Business Line : New import norms for GM soyaoil may be deferred

The decision to impose strict pre-import clearance for genetically modified (GM) foods, especially soyabean oil crushed out of GM beans, is likely to be postponed by three months.

A top Commerce Ministry official is said to have announced this at a public meeting here on Saturday. Quoting the Government official, a trade intermediary who claimed to have taken up the issue with the Government and participated in the Saturday meeting told Business Line that a formal order may be issued in a day or two. Efforts to reach any senior Commerce Ministry official over the weekend were in vain. The decision to postpone implementation of the order comes at a time when industry and trade associations have been up in arms against the policy that required pre-import clearance from the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee of the Government.

Many complained that the guidelines issued after considerable delay were as vague and unclear as the policy itself.

Windfall gains

Interestingly, since April 7 when the Commerce Ministry unveiled the new import policy relating to GM foods, speculators trading soyabean oil have been having a free run on various commodity exchanges.

Soyaoil prices soared by as much as Rs 4,000 a tonne to reach the highest price of Rs 42,500/tonne. Such a high price was not justified by demand-supply fundamentals.

Speculators made windfall gains, while importers holding large inventory liquidated the stocks at attractive prices that they could never have hoped to obtain.

Special trading session

Following the visit of the Union Agriculture and Food Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, to Indore today, the National Board of Trade - an exchange trading soyabean oil futures - had a special trading session. May soyabean oil contract prices softened to Rs 418 per 10 kgtrading lot, down from Saturday's closing of Rs 422.50, while June prices moved down to Rs 428 from Rs 434.50 on Saturday. Whether softening of prices was the result of the widely anticipated postponement of pre-import clearance for soyabean oil was unclear.

It is perhaps for the first time in the recent history of commodity futures exchanges that official trading on a futures platform took place on a holiday.

According to a Pune-based trader, the Government's GM-related policy is neither benefiting growers nor consumers, but allows speculators to rig the market with abandon.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Need for rice export market in TN

Nilgiris tea gets record price at world expo

Tea prices fall at Coonoor sale

Gold could test resistance, dip

Palm oil futures seen consolidating

Stress on quality at India Dairy Congress

Cotton seen lower

New import norms for GM soyaoil may be deferred

Bearish outlook for pepper

Arecanut may rule lower