The government has hiked import duty on refined and crude palm oil in order to safeguard interests of the domestic edible oil crushing industry and oilseed farmers. The Department of Revenue has hiked the import duty by 14% points with effect from March 1, 2018.
The import duty on crude palm oil and crude palmolein was hiked to 44% from 30%. On refined bleached and deodorised palmolein, the import duty was increased to 54% from 40%.
In order to check cheaper imports, the government has been raising import duties on agricultural products including wheat, sugar, pulses and oilseeds.