A notification by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) stated that the government amended its import policy for refined bleached deodorised palm oil (RBD Palm Oil and RBD Palmolein) from current status of ‘free’ to ‘restricted’. The decision applies to RBD Palm Oil and RBD Palmolein imports under the HS code of 15119010 and 15119020 category.This means the importer willl need a permit to import the RBD Palm Oil and RBD Palmolein. India imports about 70 per cent or 16 million tonnes of its annual 24 million tonnes of edible oil requirements. The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) President Atul Chaturvedi issued a statement thanking the government on the decision. For the November month of the current season (November 2019-October 2020), RBD Palmolein imports increased 12 per cent to 122,409 tonnes as against 108,911 tonnes in same month last year. Crude palm oil (CPO) imports for the same month fell 5 per cent to 540,421 tonnes from 568,376 tonnes in the corresponding month last year. The import duty on crude palm oil was brought down to 37.5 per cent from 40 per cent and that on refined palm oil was brought down from 50 per cent to 45 per cent under the Asean agreement and the India-Malaysia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (IMCECA). Earlier, the Indian vegetable oil Producers Association (IVPA) had expressed its concerns about the reduction in import duty on refined oils. It claimed that the duty differential would effectively be 2.5 per cent after Malaysia imposed export duty of 5 per cent, and

encouraged refined oil exports.