The oil extractors and processors have a reason to cheer as the Centre has raised import duty for crude oils, refined oils and soyabean, bringing an end to long-pending demand of the crushers.
Atul Chaturvedi, President, Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), termed the Centre’s move as a ‘game-changer’ and ‘landmark’ decision by the government in the interest of overall veg-oil stakeholders.
“We hope this decision will go a long way in re-balancing the focus on farmers, processors and consumers which had become skewed over the years. Our farming community would also be benefited and should get better prices for their produce and bring their interest back in oilseed farming. All this augurs well for our crushing industry and we are confident
Most oilseeds prices had tumbled below the MSP levels during the current kharif marketing season, on account of higher domestic crops and increase in edible oil imports, leading to farmer unrest across various States. The ‘substantial increase’ in the import duty is likely to encourage processors to pay close to MSP price levels to the farmers.
Besides the oil production, the millers and crushers also look at better competitiveness of meal in the international market and also for the domestic feed sector.
Our Indore Correspondent adds: The Soyabean Processors Association of India (SOPA) too, hailed the move, and stated that with the prices of all oilseeds falling below the MSP, a sense of deep distress and despondency had set in the minds of the farmers.
SOPA Chairman Davish Jain, in a statement, said the Centre in August this year had made a marginal increase in import duty on edible oils, taking cognisance of the impact of oil prices on inflation and also by keeping in view the farmers and consumers’ interests in mind.
SOPA will now look at some medium- and long-term strategies for sustainable profitability of the industry. Farmers are going to be the centre point of SOPA’s strategy and increasing productivity will be one of its main agenda, along with increasing exports, removing bottlenecks, abolition of mandi fee, etc, Jain added.