Cooking oil, pictured for illustration. Photo: Meganbeckett27/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized for display.
New Delhi, 24 September: The Centre has cut basic customs duty on major crude edible oils and asked the industry to pass the savings on to consumers by reducing distributor prices and maximum retail prices.
Basic customs duty on crude sunflower oil has been reduced from 10% to nil. For crude soybean oil and crude palm oil, it has been lowered from 10% to 5%, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said.
What has changed
- Crude sunflower oil: basic customs duty reduced from 10% to nil.
- Crude soybean oil: basic customs duty reduced from 10% to 5%.
- Crude palm oil: basic customs duty reduced from 10% to 5%.
The government also reduced the applicable basic customs duty on the corresponding refined oils while maintaining a 19.25% import-duty differential between crude and refined edible oils. The release did not specify the revised basic duty rates for each refined oil.
These figures concern basic customs duty and should not be read as the total tax payable on an import.
Industry asked to pass on savings
The ministry said rising international edible oil prices had increased import costs and domestic prices. Lower duties are expected to reduce landed costs and help ease pressure on household food bills.
Edible oil associations and companies have been asked to revise their Price to Distributors and Maximum Retail Price immediately to reflect the lower costs. The advisory seeks full transmission of the benefit to consumers; the release did not announce a fixed retail-price reduction.
The government said the retained duty gap would support domestic refining capacity and discourage excessive imports of refined oils. It will continue monitoring international markets and domestic prices.
For context, Medilytix reported a separate reduction in the agriculture cess on crude palm oil in 2022. That earlier change is distinct from the basic customs duty cuts announced now.