“While we say that consumers pay more, the silver lining is that farmers have begun getting more remunerative prices, with the rise in tariff on imported oils,” Mehta said.
A rise in the prices of imported refined palm oil, the widely-used cooking oil medium, has drilled a hole in the common man’s pocket. The wholesale price of RBD Palmolein, as it’s known, has jumped 39.96 per cent to $725 a tonne from $518 a year ago, data from trade body Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) shows. The corresponding rate in rupees is up 32.25 per cent (chart).
The reasons behind the rise are -- shift of palm towards making biodiesel in Indonesia and Malaysia, the chief exporters of RBD to India; lower to negative palm production growth in the two countries this year and higher consumption by China. However, recent measures by the government to provide impetus to domestic farmers and refining industry by imposing a 5 per cent safeguard duty on Malaysian RBD, apart from hiking duties on imported crude sunflower and soyabean oil in the past two years have enabled oilseed prices to quote at or above the MSP, giving some relief to farmers, said SEA’s ED BV Mehta.
“While we say that consumers pay more, the silver lining is that farmers have begun getting more remunerative prices, with the rise in tariff on imported oils,” Mehta said.
Palm oil consumption is 40 per cent of the 23 million tonne consumption in the country. The household use is relatively less compared with use in HORECA – hotels, restaurants and canteens.
Indian refiners shift to soyoil in May as palm oil loses price advantage
