The Indian Government in acknowledgement with the time long demands of the trade industry decided to slash down the import duty on sunflower seeds and made the duty from the earlier 30 % to 10 % on March 23rd, 2017.
In this regard, The Department of Revenue of the Ministry of Finance released a notice which states that on March 23 the import duty was 10% which showed the amendment to the previous notification No.12/2012- Customs which was released on March 17, 2012.
As to reduce the basic Customs duty from 30 per cent to 10 per cent on sunflower seeds, the notice said, “Amendment to Notification No.12/2012-Customs, falling under tariff item 1206 00 90 (i.e. other than of seed quality) for the purposes extraction and refining of oil subject to actual user condition, from April 1, 2017, to September 30, 2017, period.
This step was welcomed by Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEAI) and is happy about the government’s response to the industry’s request. This is a progressive step for the local industry for generation of employment, value-addition, and efficient utilisation of the capacity.
To get the balance with the international prices, the reduction in the import duty will help the importers so by India there can be large imports of oilseeds for providing to the mills that have a lack of supply.
