Panel to review surge in vanaspati imports from Lanka

New Delhi, (Financial Express) Expressing concern over the surge in vanaspati imports from Sri Lanka under the provisions of Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the government has set up an inter-ministerial panel to review the situation.

The industry has demanded placing vanaspati under negative list for imports under the Indo-Sri Lanka FTA.

The inter-ministerial panel is headed by Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) KT Chacko and comprises senior officials from the ministries of agriculture, food, finance and commerce.

Central Organisation for Oil Industry and Trade (COOIT) executive director KML Chhabra said, "The Sri Lankan government has granted 10 licences for manufacture of vanaspati.

Most of these entrepreneurs are from India. Each such licensed unit has an obligation to export 25,000 tonne per annum to India. This will further aggravate the existing situation."

Under the Indo-Sri Lanka FTA, vanaspati is imported against zero duty and there is no cap in terms of quantity to be imported under the treaty. In this context, COOIT in its representation to the inter-ministerial group has demanded that imports of vanaspati under Indo Sri Lanka FTA be capped at 50,000 tonne.