Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Import of around 2 lakh tonnes of sunflower seed a month is likely to be hit due to ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and this might add to the already high edible oil prices in the country, warned Soyabean Processors Associaton (SOPA) officials on Saturday.
SOPA executive director DN Pathak said that we are suffering in edible oil supply because we depend on imports and we are not making efforts to increase oilseed production. Pathak said SOPA has sent some suggestions to the Central government on how to combat rising edible oil prices.
The shortfall in sunflower seed import can be offset by the additional import of soybean oil and palm oil. We think the all-time high mustard crop will partially offset the shortfall in sunflower oil in the next six months as the additional 40 lakh tonne of mustard crop will give about 15 lakh tonne of additional mustard oil.
Pathak said that we have suggested that like food grains, India should build a buffer stock of edible oils also, to the tune of 10% of our demand. This reserve stock can be released in the market whenever there is tightness in supply due to any factor and it will help the government in bringing down the prices.
Storage control order must be enforced
Central and State governments can strictly enforce storage control order on soybean and mustard, to ensure that the oilseeds that come into the market for crushing are not cornered by stockists and traders for hoarding and profiteering.
No further cuts in import duties
The disruption in supply of food items and resultant rise in prices is a global phenomenon and consumers around the world are feeling the pinch of high prices. However, this is a temporary problem and we hope that the normal supplies will resume in the next three months. The oil import lobby has asked for duty reduction on canola oil. Under the circumstances, it is not necessary to import canola oil at low duty as it will directly affect the farmers and domestic mustard oil industry. Also, canola oil may be sold as mustard oil as the two oilseeds come from the same family and it is easy to adulterate mustard oil with canola oil. Any further reduction in duties on edible oils would be a kneejerk reaction, not in the long term interest of the country.
