CAMPCO for high import duty on arecanut from SAARC countries

July 23, 2014 10:08 am | Updated 11:14 am IST - MANGALORE:

A delegation of cooperative bodies will demand an increase in customs duty on arecanut imported from members of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries or a total ban on imports, when they will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi next month. Konkodi Padmanabha, president of Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Ltd. (CAMPCO), told The Hindu that the delegation led by CAMPCO would meet Mr. Modi either in the first or second week of August.

He said arecanut imported from SAARC countries attracted a customs duty of 40 per cent against 110 per cent for other countries.

Customs duty

The landing cost of imported arecanut with a customs duty of 40 per cent was about Rs. 175 a kg , while that of 110 per cent duty was Rs. 260 a kg. As most of the arecanut imported was from SAARC countries, high import duty would discourage importers. It would help maintain price stability and white arecanut prices could remain at about Rs. 300 a kg, he said.

Mr. Padmanabha said the delegation would also press the government to ban the import of arecanut if possible as domestic production was enough to meet the demand.

Notification

M. Suresh Bhandary, managing director of CAMPCO, said as per a November 9, 2011, notification by the Union government customs duty could not be charged if arecanut was imported from five least developed countries among the SAARC countries.

They are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Afghanistan. At a meeting in Delhi sometime ago a senior official of the Union government reportedly said that arecanut was not being imported to the country under this provision but private traders differed with this.

Mr. Padmanabha said the delegation would also take up this matter.

Affidavit

He said the delegation would urge the government to withdraw an affidavit filed by it before the Supreme Court in a case (Ankur Gutka vs. India Asthma Care Society) in which there was a reference that arecanut was harmful to health.

They would also urge the Prime Minister to declare an alternative package for farmers whose arecanut plantations had been hit by yellow leaf disease, he said.

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