The Hindu Business Line : Govt eases ban on edible oils exports

NEW DELHI: With inflation coming down, the government on Thursday further relaxed restrictions on the export of edible oils by allowing overseas shipments of branded consumer packs of up to five kg with a limit of 10,000 tonnes.

The relaxation of exports for small consumer packs would be allowed for one year till October 2009, a government notification said. Exports of edible oils would be allowed only from ports which are equipped with the electronic data interchange (EDI) syst ems.

In the case of fish oil, all export restrictions have been removed. However, with inflation still ruling at 8.9 per cent, the government does not seem to be lowering guard against price rise. “The quantity of edible oils to be exported shall be monitored through an appropriate system to be put in place by the Department of Commerce,” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said.

As part of measures to contain inflation, the government had banned export of edible oils on March 17, 2008. India has been exporting small volumes of premium edible oils (up to 10,000 tonnes per annum) like coconut oil, sesame oil, mustard oil and groun dnut oil, either in consumer packs or in bulk to cater mostly to demands of the non-resident Indians.

With a drop in commodity prices, the government has been easing restrictions on exports and has started even giving incentives for overseas trade. The calibrated decisions are taken by the Empowered Committee of Secretaries, which has been monitoring the demand-supply position regularly. - PTI

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