The government has decided to ban the export of all edible oils for a period of one year, effective from March 17, 2008, with a view to improve domestic supplies of edible oils in the country.
In a notification (No 85 (RE-2007)/2004-2009) issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), the government has imposed a complete ban on the export of edible oils for a year until March 16, 2009. The ban will also cover all deals under transitional arrangements. This implies that exporters with letters of credit on or before March 17, when the ban came into effect, will not be allowed to execute orders.
?There will be no major impact on prices of edible oil as our export is very negligible. It is not even 1% or 2% of the country’s total edible oil availability. The announcement has come after the season is over,? BV Mehta, executive director, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) told FE.
During the four months of the current season 2007-08 (November-February), the country has so far exported about 30,000 tonne of groundnut oil (in packed form) and 5,000 tonne each of coconut oil and mustard oil (in small pack), Mehta said.
India exports select edible oils like groundnut, coconut and mustard oil in small quantities.
The government move is a pre-emptive measure to ensure traders do not take any advantage of higher global prices of major edible oils like soy oil and palm oil and step up exports, aggravating domestic shortage, sources said.
Meanwhile, the government, on Monday, left the tariff values used to calculate import tax unchanged. It has not revised them since late 2006 to keep a lid on prices. Inflation has been rising in recent weeks and the market has been abuzz with talk that the government would cut import duties, sources said.