Lack of announcement on edible oil mission disappoints sector

The Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) of India has said that the edible oil industry was expecting the announcement of ‘National Mission on Edible Oils’ in the Budget in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Aatmanirbharata’. SEA said that disappointingly the Budget was silent on that front.

Welcoming the announcement of Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC), Atul Chaturvedi, President of SEA, hoped in a statement that the revenue from cess on edible oils would be utilised for augmenting domestic production of oilseeds.

Containing imports

“As per our understanding, effective import duty on CPO (crude palm oil) has gone up to 35.75 per cent (+ 5.50 per cent), while at the same time import duty on soya and sun oil has remained unchanged at 38.5 per cent. We welcome this decision of the Government as it will help in containing import of palm oil and remove the undue advantage it had over soya and sun oil. This should help protect the interest of mustard farmers whose crop is ready for harvest,” he said.

He complimented the Finance Minister for higher allocation to animal husbandry and also for further tightening the Rules of Origin and safeguard measures to check the spurt in imports under the Free Trade Agreements.