With food inflation at 14.44 per cent, the Centre has no plans to raise the import duty on crude and refined edible oils from the current levels of zero per cent and 7.5 per cent.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a press conference here on Tuesday, a senior government official indicated that there would not be any increase in the import duty of crude and refined edible oils.
The Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) has been demanding an increase in import duty on edible oils to protect domestic processors from imports. With a zero import duty on crude palm oil at present, domestic pricing of oil is directly exposed to price fluctuations in palm and soybean in the global markets.
The retail price of sunflower oil in Delhi has risen to Rs.108 from Rs.72 a kg last year, while Soyaoil has gone up to Rs.77 from Rs.62 a kg last January.
Mustard oil is higher at Rs.77 against Rs. 71 a kg a year ago, while groundnut oil has soared to Rs.121 from Rs.121 a kg in the period under review, according to official data.
The country has to depend on import of edible oils to meet its domestic requirement.
In 2009-10, the country imported 8.82 million tonnes of vegetable oil.
