Import duties hike bails out domestic oil palm farmers

This decision was intended to boost the income of oil palm farmers who have been at the receiving end due to rise in the oil palm imports for the past few years.

Hyderabad: The Centre has responded to the request of the oil palm growing States by increasing the import duty on crude palm oil from 5.5% to 27.5%. This decision was intended to boost the income of oil palm farmers who have been at the receiving end due to rise in the oil palm imports for the past few years. The oil palm farmers have for quite some time been mounting pressure on the Centre for safeguarding their interests by imposing import duties on the crude oil palm. Along with Agriculture Minister Thummala Nageshwar Rao, the oil palm growers had presented a memorandum to the union Minister for Agriculture who visited the flood affected areas in the state.

Thanking the Centre for its decision benefitting oil palm farmers all over the country, Nageshwar Rao expressed his gratitude to the union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, stating that the lifting of the import duty had led to a decline in oil palm prices, adversely affecting farmers. The re-imposition of the duty is expected to reverse this trend, making oil palm cultivation more profitable, he said.

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