Commerce Ministry Issues Guidelines for Allocating TRQ for Crude Soybean & Sunflower Oil

Commerce Ministry announced on Tuesday the allocation of tariff-rate quotas (TRQ) for 20 lakh metric tonnes of crude soybean oil and crude sunflower oil for 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively. TRQ is a quota for a volume of imports that will enter India at a specified or nil duty, but once the quota is reached, additional imports will be subject to the normal tariff.

To reduce domestic prices, the government has exempted 20 lakh metric tonnes of crude soyabean oil and crude sunflower oil imports from customs duty and agriculture infrastructure development cessation.

The duty-free import of crude soyabean oil and crude sunflower oil will be available for two fiscal years, 2022-23 and 2023-24.

"Provisions for the allocation of tariff-rate quotas (TRQ) for 20 lakh MT of crude soybean oil and 20 lakh MT of crude sunflower oil for 2022-23 and 2023-24 have been notified," said the Director-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in a public notice.

The DGFT has invited applications for allocation of this TRQ during 2022-23, beginning on May 27 and ending on June 18.

"Applications, where the date of their importer-exporter code is on or after the date of this public notice, shall not be considered," it stated, adding that applications will be considered on an individual basis to processors/refiners based on their own processing capacity.

Applicants must also provide a valid FSSAI licence, and only one licence against one IEC will be considered, according to the announcement. TRQs will be valid for one year from the date they are issued.

About TRQ:

TRQ is an abbreviation for Tariff Rate Quota. The TRQ is a mechanism that allows a specific number of products to be imported. These specific items are in accordance with the custom notification associated with it. Tariff quotas are used on a wide range of products, but the majority are in agriculture.