Plea to stop duty-free import of edible oil via Nepal, Bangladesh

Urging the government to take immediate and strong action to stop the import of duty-free edible oils into the country through Nepal and Bangladesh, the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) has approached the Prime Minister,  Mr Narendra Modi, and Finance Minister,  Ms Nirmala Sitharaman, and sought their intervention in the matter, said a report.

What started as a trickle has now assumed alarming proportions and is not only threatening the very survival of the refining industry in eastern and northern India but also resulting in huge revenue loss to the government. “It is harming the interests of oilseed farmers as it results in distorting our markets and the very purpose of keeping high import duties on edible oils is getting negated,” said the association in a note to the PM.

It was further pointed out that Nepal has no production of soybean and very small capacity for crushing imported soybean, and it does not produce any palm oil. The palmolein being imported from Nepal is of Indonesian and Malaysian origin and soybean oil is of South American origin, routed through Nepal or Bangladesh by flouting the rules of origin for getting duty exemption for such imports, the report added.