PALMOILMAGAZINE, MUMBAI The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), an economic research institution, published a report on January 1, 2024, emphasizing the importance of India maintaining high import duties on agricultural commodities, particularly rice.
The goal is to uphold self-sufficiency and ensure food security within the country. According to the report, this strategy would reduce India’s reliance on vegetable oil imports, contributing to an improvement in public health.
As the world’s largest vegetable oil importer, India is expected to witness a significant increase in imports, potentially reaching US$20.8 billion in the 2023–24 period, doubling from the US$10.8 billion recorded in 2017–18. GTRI also highlighted the necessity of educating consumers about the health benefits of using locally produced oils, such as mustard, nuts, and rice bran.
Also Read: Nearly 15% Decrease in Vegetable Oil Imports in India in May 2023
As Palmoilmagazine.com quoted from The Hindu, GTRI also reported that the advanced countries, such as the USA and European Union, supported India’s agricultural sectors and delivered big subsidies to encourage exports. Despite the pressure from developed countries to open agricultural sectors to imports, India maintains a high import duty of up to 30–100% for sensitive goods (commodities).
Ajay Srivastava, one of the founders of GTRI, emphasized that the approach that gets a high import duty on sensitive commodities and rejects agricultural sectors on subsidized imports within a low tariff would be very significant to achieve self-sufficiency in India and guarantee food security for the increasing population.
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According to the United Nations, clean imports of cereal from developing countries could increase three times in the next 30 years. India, with its focus on policies such as the green and white revolution, high import duty, and active negotiation in the World Trade Organization, successfully reached self-sufficiency on almost all food and agricultural products.
Vegetable oils, such as beans and dry and fresh fruits, contributed 72.1% of agricultural imports in the country in 2023. Vegetable oil is the biggest import substitution, contributing 51.9% of agricultural imports in the country.
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It imported four kinds of oil: crude palm oil (CPO), crude soyoil, crude sunflower oil, and palm olein refined bleached deodorized (RBD).
The report also noted that the 2023 imports decreased by 18.6% to be US$ 17.1 billion compared to those in 2022, particularly for the decreasing import price, not the quantity. (T2)
