The Government has increased the tariff value of refined palm oil to $1,053 per tonne from the earlier $484 per tonne to curb the rising imports of the cooking oil and protect the domestic industry.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) in a notification said that the tariff value of refined, bleached and deodorised (RBD) palmolein has been increased to $1,053 per tonne, an official statement said today.
Last month, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved the proposal to defreeze the import tariff value of RBD palmolein and link it to global prices.
The tariff value, which is released fortnightly, is the base price on which the Customs duty is determined to prevent under-invoicing. At present, the Government imposes 7.5 per cent duty on import of refined edible oils.
Lower tariff value
However, since July 2006, the Government did not tweak with the tariff value on refined palmolein at $484 per tonne against the current global price of about $1,000.
Lower tariff value on imported refined palmolein has boosted shipments in the last few years.
That apart, Indonesia has lowered the export duty on refined palm oil from 15 per cent to 8 per cent, affecting domestic edible oil processors. Indonesia is the largest exporter of crude palm oil to India.
Between November 2011 and April 2012, about 9.19 lakh tonnes of RBD refined palmolein was imported against 4.87 lakh tonnes during the corresponding period in previous year, recording an increase of 88.7 per cent.
In comparison, imports of crude palm oil increased by 14.8 per cent from 21.72 lakh tonnes to 24.93 tonnes during the same period.