Vegetarian oils import likely to rise by 14 per cent.

An industry body said that India’s vegetable oil imports may rise by 14 per cent in value terms to Rs 32,000 crore in the 2009–10 crop year ending October on account of higher demand and stagnant domestic output.

“Our dependence on import of edible oil, which was only 5 per cent in 1994–95, has gone up to over 50 per cent currently. Oilseeds production has remained stagnant, while demand has been growing,” the Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) said in a presentation to the finance, agriculture, commerce and food processing ministries.

SEA noted that the country’s import bill for vegetable oils jumped to over Rs 28,000 crore in the 2008–09 crop year, next only to petroleum products and gold. “This year, it may cross over Rs 32,000 crore, a huge drain of foreign exchange and such over – dependence on imports is a threat to food security,” it said.

SEA has asked the government to revisit the import duty on edible oils to support farmers and industry.

Further it also said import duty on crude edible oils should at least be raised to 10 per cent from nil at present, while that on refined cooking oils should go up to 17.5 per cent from the current 7.5 per cent.

In volume terms, the country imported 8.6 million tonnes of vegetable oils (comprising edible and non edible oils) in the 2008–09 marketing year (November-October), which is likely to increase to about 9 million tonnes this year.

Edible oil imports could rise to 8.5 million tonnes this year from 8.18 million tonnes in the previous year.

SEA pointed out that less than 25 per cent of the oilseed area in the country is irrigated, rendering cultivation vulnerable to weather related yield risks. “This has resulted in slow growth in oilseeds production and continued low yields. At about 900 kg per hectare, Indian oilseeds yields are about half of the world’s average and less than one third of leading producers,” it said.

Source : FnbNews