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G. Gurumurthy

Coimbatore, Sept. 13 Tapioca farmers from Salem have asked the Centre to raise tariff on imports of tapioca starch and modified starch to protect the growers of the tubers and domestic sago mills that process this agricultural product.

The members of the Salem-based United Farmers Association said these being essentially agricultural products, the bound rate of customs duty on these items could go up to 100 per cent and 150 per cent, respectively, to check indiscriminate imports.

Seeking the State Government’s intervention in the matter, the President of the association, Mr C.Vyapuri, noted that the three-year safeguard duty on imports of tapioca starch imposed in 2005 would soon be over, this year being the last year of its validity and hence the need for continued safeguard measures against cheap imports of tapioca starch and modified starch.

Further more, the safeguard duty had been levied only against tapioca starch and this has not been extended to the modified starch, though bulk of the starch imports happening at present are being done under the guise of modified starch because it is hard to differentiate between the too, he said . Most of the starch imported from Thailand. The Centre on the recommendation from the Tamil Nadu had in May 2005 brought in the safeguard duty on import of tapioca starch for three years with the duty rate set to decline progressively at 33 per cent, 23 per cent and 13 per cent in the first, second and third year, respectively, and it will be zero from 2008

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