Wednesday 24 Apr 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on January 9, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: India has banned imports of refined palm oil into the country, according to a government notification yesterday sighted by The Edge Financial Daily.

The new policy is believed to be in response to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s criticism of India’s actions in the Kashmir region and its new citizenship law.

 India is the world’s biggest importer of palm oil. It imports most of its refined palm oil from Malaysia and crude palm oil from Indonesia.

The notification reads: “The central government hereby amends the import policy of items under Exim Code 1511 90 of Chapter 15 of ITC (HS), 2017, Schedule — 1 (Import Policy).”

Items under Exim Code 1511 90 include refined bleached deodorised palm oil and refined bleached deodorised palm olein.

As such, the effect of the notification is that the import policy for the said items is amended from ‘free’ to ‘restricted’.

On Tuesday, Reuters reported that India has informally asked palm oil refiners and traders to avoid buying Malaysian palm oil, according to sources.

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