Govt cuts import duty on wheat, potato and palm oils

23 September, New Delhi

The Centre today cut import duty on wheat and potato to 10 per cent to boost supplies and check prices of the commodities during the upcoming festival season.

Earlier the import duty on wheat was 25 per cent while it was 30 per cent on potato. Besides, the government has also reduced the import duty on crude palm oil from 12.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent and on refined oil from 20 per cent to 15 per cent.

In a notification,the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said the import duty on wheat has been reduced till February,2017 and on potato it was lowered till October this year.

The Food Ministry had proposed the cut in wheat import duty as its procurement dropped to 22.9 million tonnes this year, raising concerns about the domestic availability.

Concerned over rising retail prices amid production shortfall, the government reduced the import duty on potatoes to improve the domestic availability.

As per the official data, potato output has declined by 9 per cent to 43.7 million tonnes in 2015-16 crop year compared with 48 million tonnes last year.