Cooking Oil Refiners Seek Levies as Plants Idle: Corporate India Cooking oil refiners in India are seeking higher tariffs to curb cheaper imports that have eroded margins of companies in the world’s second-largest consumer of the commodity. India must increase the levy to 12.5 percent from 7.5 percent, Atul Chaturvedi, chief executive officer at Adani Wilmar Ltd., said in an interview. Overseas purchases of refined, bleached and deodorized palm olein surged 36 percent to a record in the 10 months to August as a drop in palm prices in Malaysia made it lucrative to import processed products. Refiners including Adani and Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd., India’s largest cooking oil processor, say they are operating at 30 percent of capacity as imports flood the market. Rising overseas purchases are hurting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s efforts to rein in an unprecedented current account deficit that sent the rupee to a record low last month. At the rate now for capacity utilization “you are as good as closed,” said Chaturvedi. “If the refineries are shut, you are going to have lot of job losses.” Demands for higher levies may increase as international prices slump further. Palm, the world’s most-used cooking oil, may drop to the lowest level since 2009 by January as global supplies of edible oils expand and crude oil weakens, Dorab Mistry, director at Godrej International Ltd., said yesterday. bloomberg/news/2013-09-23/cooking-oil-refiners-seek-levies-as-plants-idle-corporate-india.html
Posted on: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 05:04:06 +0000
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