Govt further cuts import tariff value of gold, silver

In the wake of falling global prices of precious metals, the government has further slashed the import tariff value of gold and silver to $432 per 10 grams and $736 per kg, respectively.

Tariff value is the base price at which the customs duty is determined to prevent under-invoicing.

Till last week, the tariff value of gold was at $458 per 10 grams and silver at $783 per kg.

The notification in this regard has been issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

Besides bullion, the government has cut the import tariff value of brass scrap to $3,717 per tonne and crude palm oil to $827 per tonne, from $3,748 per tonne and $833 per tonne, respectively, prevailed till last week.

However, the import tariff value of poppy seed has been raised to $2,717 per tonne, crude soyabean oil to $963 per tonne and RBD palmolein to $883 per tonn.

Earlier, the tariff for import of poppy seed stood was $2,763 per tonne, crude soyabean oil at $951 per tonne and RBD palmolein at $882 per tonne.

The tariff for import of arecanut has been kept unchanged at $1,870 per tonne.

Government has reduced the import tariff value of gold keeping weak global prices trend in precious metals. In New York market, gold were ruling down by 1.7% at $1,308.60 per ounce last week.

Similarly, gold in the national capital was ruling lower by Rs 450 at Rs 30,300 per 10 grams.

In August, the country's gold imports had declined to $650 million from $2.2 billion in the previous month, on account of a slew of steps taken by government to curb inbound shipments of the precious metal.

However the World Gold Council (WGC) has projected the country's overall gold demand to touch a record 1,000 tonnes in 2013 calendar year. This may damage the government's efforts to curb imports and check trade deficit.