The State-owned trading firms STC and PEC have invited bids for importing 12,000 tonnes of palm oil and 5,000 tonnes of soyabean oil.
While PEC has invited bids for 3,000 tonnes of crude palm oil and 9,000 tonnes of refined, bleached and deodorised (RBD) palmolein, STC has asked for the import of 5,000 tonnes of crude de-gummed soyabean oil (CDSO).
The last date for submission of bids for all the three tenders is July 2 and a decision on awarding the contracts will be taken on the same day, notifications on the PEC and STC Web sites said.
PEC has asked for the delivery of 5,500 tonnes and 3,500 tonnes of RBD palmolein at Chennai and Tuticorin ports in Tamil Nadu respectively from July 20-30. The firm has also asked for the delivery of 3,000 tonnes of crude palm oil for immediate shipment at the Haldia port in West Bengal.
In case of STC, it wants the shipment of 5,000 tonnes of CDSO for delivery at Kandla port in Gujarat by July 20.
STC has asked to source CDSO from the US and/or Argentina, whereas, PEC wants both crude and refined palm oil to be sourced from Indonesia and/or Malaysia.
Currently the import duty on crude edible oil is nil and it is 7.5 per cent on refined oil.
MMTC, PEC and STC import edible oils on behalf of the Government for distribution through ration shops. India had imported around 8.37 million tonnes of edible oil in the 2010-11 oil year (November-October).