Data from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), as compiled by the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), showed that during 2019-20, India exported 1,068,215 tonnes of oilseeds worth Rs.9,391 crore against 1,247,572 tonnes worth Rs.9,060 crore in 2016-17. On the other hand, India imported 520,871 tonnes of oilseeds for 2019-20 valued at Rs.2,838 crore as against 159,330 tonnes worth Rs.758 crore in 2016-17. The SEA informed that under the current policy, export of oilseeds are freely allowed. Similarly, import is also freely allowed with import duty of 30 per cent + 4 per cent special additional duty (SAD). “Import of oilseed, a raw material for domestic oil milling and solvent extraction industry, supports the processing and capacity utilisation. The export of oilseeds are decreasing year-by-year while imports of oilseeds are rising,” BV Mehta, Executive Director, SEA, said in a statement. Major oilseeds imported to India include soyabean at 360,649 (157,049) tonnes, sesameseed at 147,169 (87,538) tonnes and cottonseed at 7,412 (7,868) tonnes. Whereas, groundnut was the largest exported oilseed at 664,442 (489,187) tonnes, followed by sesameseed at 282,210 (312,003) tonnes.