New Delhi: Cooking oil is going to drain your wallet this festive season as the Centre increased import duties last month to protect the interests of soybean farmers in poll-bound Maharashtra. The import duties increased because soybean prices are still below the minimum support price levels.
The edible oil industry is now seeking a 5% RoDTEP (Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Products) incentive for oilmeal exports to bolster the sector.
On September 14, the government increased the import duty on all the cooking oils by about 20%. As per the Ministry of Consumer Affairs data, the hike in the import duty resulted in average prices of packaged mustard oil increasing by 17.5 %, soyabean oil by 14.87%, sunflower by 18%, and palm oil by 24% during last two months.
Though the reason to hike the cooking oil prices ahead of Diwali was to support soybean prices in Maharashtra, so far it has had minimal impact on the produces.
The modal average price of soybean at the Latur Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee, a key hub for soybean trade and processing in India, is Rs 4,300 per quintal, compared to the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 4,892 per quintal.