Nafed gets 3 vanaspati offers from Sri Lanka

National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) has received three offers for vanaspati import from Sri Lanka.

The quantity offered is 20,000 tonne for vanaspati, 2500 tonne for bakery shortening and 500 tonne for margarine, said Kailash Jyani, additional managing director, Nafed.

The offer indicates that Sri Lankan traders have accepted the canalisation and we hope to work with them in importing vanaspati, added Jyani.

In accordance to the government's decision to route the imports of Sri Lankan vanaspati through Nafed, the latter had invited offers for vanaspati import, bakery shortening and margarine under its brand name from Sri Lanka.

The offer had specified the quantity of 25,000 tonne for vanaspati, 2,500 tonne for bakery shortening and 500 tonne for margarine. The offers were made on July 13.

The shipment period would be August-September and the ports of delivery would be Mumbai, Chennai, Kandla, Tughlakabad (New Delhi) and Ludhiana.

Last month Nafed had invited offers from Sri Lankan traders but it did not receive any offers. Sri Lanka had earlier objected to the vanaspati import canalisation through Nafed and its commerce and trade ministry tried to influence the Indian government to withdraw the canalisation.

However, the Indian government refused to concede to the Lankan demands as it would have been detrimental to the domestic vanaspati industry.

As per the 1998 FTA with India and the self-imposed quota, Sri Lanka can export duty free vanaspati to the tune of 2.5 lakh tonne to India.

Vanaspati and bakery shortening accounts for around fifty per cent of Sri Lanka's total exports to India. Nafed intends to market the imported vanaspati through its various branches in the Northern, Western, Eastern and Southern region.