Edible oil import up by 31%

Edible oil import has been rising owing to a drop in rabi oil seeds production. Rabi oilseed production in 2007-08 dipped 10.4 per cent to 9.21 million tonnes owing to a shift in acreage to crops like wheat and pulses. The government has brought down the import duty on all crude edible oil to nil and duty on all refined edible oils to 7.5 per cent to improve the domestic availability at lower prices.