Speaking to the newspersons here, Mr Rajaiah alleged that the government was levying an import duty of 35 per cent on crude palm oil whereas on refined palm oil it was as high as 78 per cent.

He also alleged that the refined palm oil was being passed off as crude palm oil, thereby defrauding the exchequer and impeding the domestic market.

The domestic demand for cooking oil in India is only 1.08 lakh tonne, while the import totalled at 1.80 lakh tonne, Mr Rajaiah said adding, "Our market is flooded with imported palm oil, adversely affecting the domestic cooking trade and farmers in the country."

He urged the government to impose reasonable restrictions on provisions under the World Trade Organisation agreement to prevent the country from becoming a dumping yard' and protect the interest of the domestic cooking oil industry by increasing import duty on crude palm oil.

"Owing to the WTO agreement, agricultural products from developed countries were flooding the domestic markets, creating a severe handicap to the local traders and farmers," he said.

(PTI)