Tariff Values of Imported Edible Oils - to be defrosted
THE Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved to defreeze the tariff values of Crude Palm Oil, RBD Palm Oil, Others - Palm Oil, Crude Palmolein, Others - Palmolein and Crude Soyabean Oil.
Tariff value is fixed under Section 14 (2) of the Customs Act, 1962, inter alia, on the above edible oils and notified on a fortnightly basis. Since 31.7.2006, tariff values of the above edible oils have remained unchanged, as a fiscal measure to contain inflation. The freeze has led to a significant variation between the notified tariff values and the computed landed prices based on international prices of the edible oils, adversely affecting the revenue collection and also the domestic refining industry.
Hence, it is proposed to align the tariff values with international prices of the edible oils. The Government is also likely to enhance the import duty on edible oils, which in a very complicated procedure is expected to hike the price payable to farmers for Fresh Fruit Bunches of oil palm, which is linked to the landed price of Crude Palm Oil.