The reduction in duty on the import of crude edible oil has come as a shock to oil palm growers in the country. They alleged that the move would adversely impact their prospects and the country’s efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in edible oils.
“It leads to uncertainty as farmers were expecting to reap a good price scenario before the reduction in duties,” Mahesh Reddy, who grows oil palm in about 8 hectares in Khammam, told businessline.
Because of an increase in import duties on raw edible oil last year, the prices of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs) went up by up to 60 per cent in just one year to reach ₹21,000 a tonne.
The period from May to September is considered to be the best period for farmers as the bulk of the produce (up to 60 per cent) is sold during this period.
“The duty reduction has happened just around the best season. This will deny good prices for us. Moreover, this uncertainty (price fluctuations) could deter more farmers from taking up oil palm cultivation,” he said.
According to the NITI Aayog report ‘Pathways and Strategies for Accelerating Growth in Edible Oils Towards the Goal of Atmanirbharta’, the per capita consumption of edible oil in the country has seen a dramatic rise, reaching 19.7 kg/year.
“This surge in demand has significantly outpaced domestic production, leading to a heavy reliance on imports to meet both domestic and industrial needs,” it said.
The country imported 16.5 million tonnes in 2022-23 of edible oils, with domestic production fulfilling only 40-45 per cent of the country’s requirements.
It projected that the national supply of edible oil is projected to increase to 16 mt by 2030 and 26.7 mt by 2047.
Worried over the likely price reduction in FFBs in the domestic market, Telangana Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao wrote a letter to Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, asking them to rescind the reduction to protect the interests of the farmers.
Appealing to the Commerce Ministry to reconsider the downward revision of the duties, he said the decision would undermining the farmers’ trust at a time when the States are trying to increase the acreage under oil palm.
The minister expressed concern that this reduction in import duty may deter farmers who want to start new oil palm cultivation. He stated that this is contrary to the intention of the central and state governments to promote indigenous oil production.
The Telangana Government, which is attempting to grow the oil palm acreage to 8 lakh hectares from the present level of about 1 lakh hectares, has asked the Union Government to increase the duties to 40 per cent from the level of 27.5 per cent (before the downward revision) to boost the domestic acreage and production.
The Government of India notified an additional target of 3.5 lakh ha in 25 districts of Telangana, and 9 companies have been allotted zones across the state.
The overall target is to bring over 8 lakh ha over the next 3 years, with 1.5 lakh ha targeted for the first year (2022-2023), 3.5 lakh ha for the second year (2023-2024), and 5 lakh ha for the third year (2024-2025). The State, however, fell far below the targets with the current acreage standing at one lakh ha.
To support farmers, the Government proposed to provide a subsidy of ₹36,000 per acre over a period of three years. It projected a budget of ₹780 crore for 2022-23, ₹1,970 crore in 2023-2024, ₹3,100 crore in 2024-25, and ₹850 crore in 2025-26.
Published on June 2, 2025
The reduction in duty on the import of crude edible oil has come as a shock to oil palm growers in the country. They alleged that the move would adversely impact their prospects and the country’s efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in edible oils.
“It leads to uncertainty as farmers were expecting to reap a good price scenario before the reduction in duties,” Mahesh Reddy, who grows oil palm in about 8 hectares in Khammam, told businessline.
Because of an increase in import duties on raw edible oil last year, the prices of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs) went up by up to 60 per cent in just one year to reach ₹21,000 a tonne.
The period from May to September is considered to be the best period for farmers as the bulk of the produce (up to 60 per cent) is sold during this period.
“The duty reduction has happened just around the best season. This will deny good prices for us. Moreover, this uncertainty (price fluctuations) could deter more farmers from taking up oil palm cultivation,” he said.
According to the NITI Aayog report ‘Pathways and Strategies for Accelerating Growth in Edible Oils Towards the Goal of Atmanirbharta’, the per capita consumption of edible oil in the country has seen a dramatic rise, reaching 19.7 kg/year.
“This surge in demand has significantly outpaced domestic production, leading to a heavy reliance on imports to meet both domestic and industrial needs,” it said.
The country imported 16.5 million tonnes in 2022-23 of edible oils, with domestic production fulfilling only 40-45 per cent of the country’s requirements.
It projected that the national supply of edible oil is projected to increase to 16 mt by 2030 and 26.7 mt by 2047.
Worried over the likely price reduction in FFBs in the domestic market, Telangana Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao wrote a letter to Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, asking them to rescind the reduction to protect the interests of the farmers.
Appealing to the Commerce Ministry to reconsider the downward revision of the duties, he said the decision would undermining the farmers’ trust at a time when the States are trying to increase the acreage under oil palm.
The minister expressed concern that this reduction in import duty may deter farmers who want to start new oil palm cultivation. He stated that this is contrary to the intention of the central and state governments to promote indigenous oil production.
The Telangana Government, which is attempting to grow the oil palm acreage to 8 lakh hectares from the present level of about 1 lakh hectares, has asked the Union Government to increase the duties to 40 per cent from the level of 27.5 per cent (before the downward revision) to boost the domestic acreage and production.
The Government of India notified an additional target of 3.5 lakh ha in 25 districts of Telangana, and 9 companies have been allotted zones across the state.
The overall target is to bring over 8 lakh ha over the next 3 years, with 1.5 lakh ha targeted for the first year (2022-2023), 3.5 lakh ha for the second year (2023-2024), and 5 lakh ha for the third year (2024-2025). The State, however, fell far below the targets with the current acreage standing at one lakh ha.
To support farmers, the Government proposed to provide a subsidy of ₹36,000 per acre over a period of three years. It projected a budget of ₹780 crore for 2022-23, ₹1,970 crore in 2023-2024, ₹3,100 crore in 2024-25, and ₹850 crore in 2025-26.
Published on June 2, 2025
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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution
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