“In order to support growing production of oilseeds and to explore additional avenues for marketing of edible oils, it is required to allow bulk export of all edible oils with the exception of mustard oil, which is an item of mass consumption in India,” government said in a statement. 

 

Allowing export of edible oils may also result in utilization of idle capacity in India's edible oils industry and is a step towards Ease of Doing Business by removing confusion arising out of prohibition on export of edible oils and a plethora of exemptions. 

 

The decision comes in the wake of a quantum jump in the production of oilseeds in 2016-17 compared to past two years. It is expected that the production of oilseeds in 2017-18 is going to sustain at the same levels. At present, only certain edible oils can be exported in bulk and other oils only in consumer packs upto 5 Kg with Minimum Export Price (MEP). 

 

New committee to review edible oil trade 

The CCEA also approved empowering a panel headed by Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution to review the export and import policy on all varieties of edible oils and consider measures such as quantitative restrictions, prior registration, imposition of minimum export price and changes in import duties depending on domestic production and demand, domestic and international prices and international trade volumes. 

 

It also discontinued the inter-ministerial committee, headed by commerce secretary, mandated to review the export of edible oils.