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Days after allowing soybean procurement at Minimum Support Price (MSP), the Centre has increased import duties on edible oils. The Ministry of Finance issued a notification to this effect Friday.
Praising recent agricultural policy decisions — including lifting of export curbs on onions and Basmati rice — by his Government, PM Narendra Modi said these will “greatly benefit” farmers. “Whether it is reducing the export duty on onions or increasing the import duty on edible oils, many such decisions are going to greatly benefit our food producers. While these will increase their income, employment opportunities will also increase in rural areas,” the PM wrote.
In a statement, Union Minister of Agriculture Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the Government had taken a decision to “increase import duty on edible oils from 0% to 20%”. Upon adding other components, the total effective duty will be 27.5%, Chouhan said.
The decision comes at a time when prices of soybean, the leading source of edible oils, are reported below the MSP. The other two are sunflower and palm oil. Last week, the government allowed procurement of soybean at MSP in four states — Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana. Maharashtra, the country’s second largest producer of soybean, is set for polls later this year.
Friday, the Centre also removed the $550 per metric tonne minimum export price for onions “with immediate effect” as well as reduced the export duty from 40% to 20%. The $950 MEP condition for issuing registration-cum-allocationa certificates for Basmati rice was also removed.
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