new delhi the finance ministry has extended concessional customs duty on edible oil imports by another 6 months till march 2023 a move aimed at increasing domestic supply and keeping prices under controlin a notification the central board of indirect taxes and customs cbic said the existing concessional import duties on specified edible oils will be extended up to march 31 2023the current duty structure on crude palm oil rbd palmolein rbd palm oil crude soybean oil refined soybean oil crude sunflower oil and refined sunflower oil remains unchanged till march 31 2023 solvent extractors association of india sea saidcurrently import duty on crude varieties of palm oil soyabean oil and sunflower oil is nil however taking into account agri cess of 5 per cent and social welfare cess of 10 per cent the effective duty on crude varieties of these three edible oils is 55 per centthe basic customs duty on refined varities of palmolein and palm oil is 125 per cent while social welfare cess is 10 per cent so the effective duty works out to 1375 per centthe basic customs duty on refined soyabean and sunflower oil is 175 per cent and taking into account 10 per cent social welfare cess the effective duty comes to 1925 per centsea executive director b v mehta said the government has taken the decision to extend concessional duty till march in consumer interesthowveer he said that the government will need to revisit the duty structure in october when the kharif oilseeds crops like soyabean come into the domestic marketmehta said prices of edible oil have been on declining trend driven by fall in global pricesfarmers would want at least 1520 per cent higher price of their oilseeds crop than the minimum support price msp so if wholesale prices falls below msp or remain near to msp then government should look at increasing import duties on edible oil he saidwith easing of rates in global market and lower import duties the retail prices of edible oils have come down considerably in the domestic market however the prices are still at uncomfortable level for common manin the last few months the food ministry had directed edible oil companies to pass on the benefits of fall in global prices to domestic consumersas per the data compiled by the department of consumer affairs the average retail price of groundnut oil stood at rs 18804 per kilogram mustard oil rs 17266kg vanaspati rs 15252kg soyabean oil rs 156kg sunflower oil rs 17645kg and palm oil rs 13294kg on september 1with edible oil prices ruling high throughout last year the government had on multiple occasions cut import duty on palm oil to increase domestic availabilityas india imports more than 60 per cent of its edible oil requirement retail prices came under pressure in the last few months taking cues from the global market india imported a record edible oil worth rs 117 lakh crore in 202021 oil marketing year ending october