June 7, 2012

 

Canada's rapeseed oil producers demand India to remove import duty

 

 

To be able to boost consumption of the healthy cooking oil, Canada's rapeseed oil producers have demanded that India should abolish import duty on the edible oil.

 

India imposes 7.5% import duty on all kinds of refined edible oils and zero duty on crude edible oils.

 

Canada is the largest producer of rapeseeds with 14.2 million tonnes of output in 2011-12 (August-July). It exports 90% of its production in the form of seeds and oils.

 

India currently imports over 700 tonnes of rapeseed oil but it is minuscule when compared to overall import of 8.7 million tonnes of vegetable oils.

 

"India is a price sensitive market. If Indian government reduces or abolishes the import duty, consumers will get rapeseed oil at lower price and consumption of healthy cooking oil will gradually rise," Canola Council of Canada Vice President (Market Development) Cory McArthur told PTI.

 

McArthur, who is visiting India to promote rapeseed oil, said the Council has made representation to the Canadian government to take up this issue during the discussion on Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India.

 

Currently, rapeseed oil is being sold in India in a price range of INR150-260 (US$2.72-4.71) per litre, which is much higher than the prices of other cooking oils like mustard and soy.

 

The Council represents rapeseed growers, input suppliers, researchers, processors and markets of rapeseed.

 

Asked about export potential, he said, "The council does not have any estimate. We only promote healthy benefits of rapeseed oil. However, the industry feels that India has potential to import 850,000 tonnes of rapeseed oil."

 

Quoting a survey done by Nielson Company, McArthur said, "About 23% of the respondents said they would be willing to pay 10-30% more for healthier oil."

 

The survey also found that the awareness level of rapeseed oil in the Indian market was "extremely low", he added.

 

Rapeseed oil was first introduced in India in 2007 under the Hudson brand by Dalmia Continental. Other brands like Jivo, Sattvic, Capri and Sundrop are also available here.

 

Rapeseed has the least saturated fat of about 7%, about half that of sunflower (12%), soy (15%) and groundnut (19%) and is also free of trans fat and cholesterol, McArthur claimed.