Free import of refined edible oil will help contain prices quickly
Duty on edible oil imports likely to be slashed for the next few months
The high-level meeting involving three Secretary level officials of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Affairs with edible oil processors, millers, importers and traders as well as several State governments held on Monday (May 24) to review the high prices of edible oil saw a chorus of demands from trade and industry representatives including fiscal relief in terms of exemption from GST on edible oil and strong hint that the Essential Commodities Act should not be invoked.
The commodity derivatives market came under attack from several speakers who alleged rampant speculation in the bourses and blamed futures trading for the strident price rise. Sadly, no one provided even an iota of evidence in terms of data to support the claim of rampant speculation.
Philippines duty cut likely to help Indian rice exports
May 24, 2021
The annual rice import market in Philippines is estimated at around 2.5 million tonnes
With the Philippines cutting import tariff on rice to boost supplies, Indian exporters see an opportunity to ship out more of the foodgrain to the South-East Asian nation, one of the largest grain buyers in the region.
According to reports from Manila, the Philippines last week lowered the most favoured nation tariff on rice imports to 35 per cent from 40 per cent for in-quota purchases and 50 per cent out-quota volume for one year.
For the past couple of years, Indian exporters, who faced higher rice import tariff of 50 per cent in the Philippines, have been pursuing with Manila for equalising the duty structure. However, with their traditional suppliers such as Vietnam and Thailand facing supply constraints, Manila has been forced to lower the tariff to keep the cereal prices under check.
SMEs feel the heat as copper prices hit the roof
February 20, 2021
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The sharp spike in the benchmark LME (London Metal Exchange) copper prices to $8,806 a tonne from $7,755 from start of this month has put scores of small and medium enterprises in a tizzy particularly when the demand is reviving slowly after the Covid impact.
In fact, copper prices have jumped 24 per cent from $6,702 a tonne logged in October. Notwithstanding the unprecedented rally, Citigroup expects copper prices to touch $10,000-12,000 a tonne given the huge demand-supply gap globally.
Vijay Aggarwal , Director, Solis Corporation, said the excess liquidity in the global markets has been driving metal prices on overseas exchange and upsetting the calculation of the domestic industries which work on 2-4 per cent margin.
Duty cut pushes CPO import up by 18% in Dec
January 15, 2021
Although import duty on CPO was reduced by 10%, the import duty on other soft oils remained unchanged
Although import duty on CPO was reduced by 10%, the import duty on other soft oils remained unchanged×
India imported 7,48,006 tonnes of crude palm oil in December, 2020
Our Bureau
A 10 per cent duty reduction on the import of crude palm oil (CPO) on November 27 has helped boost CPO import during December, according to the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA).
India imported 7,48,006 tonnes of CPO during December 2020 as against 6,31,824 tonnes in the corresponding period of 2019, recording a growth of 18.38 per cent.