Cut in crude palm oil duty sought

The vanaspati industry has urged the government to reduce Customs duty on crude palm oil, its main raw material, and raise it on finished vanaspati to provide a level playing field for the indigenous and imported product.

At present, the import duty on crude palm oil is 65 per cent, while it is merely 30 per cent on manufactured vanaspati. The discrepancy makes it difficult for locally-produced vanaspati to compete with imported product.

The disparity has been brought to the finance ministry's notice by the Vanaspati Manufacturers' Association of India (VMA) in its pre-Budget memorandum.