Indian refiners seek higher duty on Malaysian refined palm oil imports

Indian edible oil refiners have asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to raise duty on refined palm oil imports from Malaysia to protect the local industry following a surge in inbound shipments from the South-east Asian country, a trade body said on Friday.

India is the world's biggest importer of edible oils. Its refined palm oil imports in May jumped to 371,060 tonnes from 238,479 tonnes in April, the Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA) said in a letter to Modi.

In January, India cut duty on refined palm oil sourced from Malaysia to 45% from 54% as part of a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) signed by the two countries nearly a decade ago.

"We strongly appeal to the government to kindly scrap the CECA agreement with Malaysia with immediate effect and impose higher duty on RBD palmolein to save domestic refiners and oilseed farmers," the SEA said.