Govt to discontinue import of crude soybean oil under tariff rate quota

The government on Wednesday said that it has decided to discontinue import of crude soybean oil under tariff rate quota (TRQ) from April 1 this year.

TRQ is a quota for a volume of imports that will enter India at specified or nil duty, but after the quota is reached, the normal tariff applies to additional imports.

"Last date for import of crude soybean oil under TRQ has been revised to March 31, 2023. Further, no allocation of TRQs for import of crude soybean oil shall be made for 2023-24," the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) said in a public notice.

The government has earlier exempted customs duty and agriculture infrastructure development cess on 20 lakh metric tonnes yearly import of crude soybean oil and crude sunflower oil each, to ease domestic prices.

The duty-free import of 20 lakh MT per year was earlier applicable for two financial years -- 2022-23 and 2023-24 -- for crude soybean oil and crude sunflower oil. Now it is applicable only for crude sunflower seed oil.