India Imported 17.44 LMT Edible Oils from Ukraine & 3.48 LMT from Russia in 2020-21

Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, gave the following details of edible oil imports from Russia and Ukraine over the last three years in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today:

Imports of edible oils are subject to an Open General Licence (OGL). The required quantities are imported from abroad by the private sector. For the purpose of facilitating imports, the government has held meetings with private industry and edible oil associations.

From 2018-19, the Government of India has been implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, National Food Security Mission- Oilseeds & Oil Palm (NFSM-OS&OP), to increase the production and productivity of oilseeds and expand the area of Oil Palm & Tree Borne Oilseeds in the country in order to increase the availability of vegetable oils and reduce the import of edible oils by increasing the production and productivity of oilseeds and expanding the area of Oil Palm & Tree Borne Oilseeds.

The government has now launched the National Mission for Edible Oils (Oil Palm)- NMEO (OP) to promote oil palm cultivation in order to make the country Atmanirbhar in edible oils, with a special focus on the North-Eastern States and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The government has been rationalizing the duty structure on edible oils during 2021-22 to reduce the price burden on the common man in order to improve domestic availability and keep prices under control. Following are the steps that have been taken:

The Central Government has reduced the basic duty on Crude Palm Oil, Crude Soyabean Oil, and Crude Sunflower Oil from 2.5 percent to nil in order to control the rise in cooking oil prices. The agricultural process on these oils has been increased to 5%.

The basic duty on refined soybean and sunflower oils has been reduced from 32.5 percent to 17.5 percent, while the basic duty on refined palm oils has been reduced from 17.5 percent to 12.5 percent.

The free import of refined palm oils has been extended by the government until December 31, 2022.

The current zero percent basic rate of import duty on Crude Palm Oil, Crude Soyabean Oil, and Crude Sunflower Oil has been extended until September 30, 2022, and the 12.5 percent rate of import duty on Refined Palm Oils, Refined Soyabean Oil, and Refined Sunflower Oil has been extended until September 30, 2022.

Futures trading in mustard oil on the NCDEX has been suspended, and stock limits have been imposed, in order to keep edible oil prices under control.

Furthermore, the Department of Food and Public Distribution had imposed stock limits on Edible Oils and Oilseeds beginning on October 8, 2021, and lasting until March 31, 2022.

In addition, an amended Order titled "The Removal of Licensing Requirements, Stock Limits, and Movement Restrictions on Specified Foodstuffs (Amendment) Order, 2022" was notified with effect from February 3, 2022, specifying the quantities of edible oil and oil-seed stock limits to be implemented by all States/UTs. This Order was issued to ensure that edible oils and oil-seeds are readily available throughout the country.