Government of india to stop export of palm oil after 31st December

Biratnagar. The Indian government has started preparations to stop the export of palm oil from December 31. With the preparations, Nepal’s palm oil industries have reached the point of closure.

According to the industrialists, the palm industries in the sunsari morang Industrial Corridor, which have been operating smoothly even during the epidemic of covid 19, have reached the stage of complete closure from December 31.The industries producing palm oil operating from the corridor are exporting palm oil from Nepal to India, which has been providing good revenue to the state. With India’s signal to tighten exports from December 31, Nepali palm industries are sure to be in crisis.The palm industries operating in the corridor were exporting large quantities of refined palm oil imported to Nepal under SAFTA facility to India. Industries have been exporting palm oil to India after importing raw materials from various third countries and processing them in Nepal. Now, after 31st December, the future of Nepali palm industry is being determined by the policy adopted by the Indian government.

According to the information provided by an industrialist, 189,078 tonnes of palm oil was exported from Nepal in 2018, while the share of imports in 2019 had increased by 314 percent over the previous year. The government of India has stated that it will unilaterally stop palm oil in a situation where even the state has received good revenue from palm oil extraction.Vipin Kawara, operator of quality Refinery Oil, informed that half a dozen industries producing palm in Sunsari Morang Industrial Corridor will be completely shut down after the Indian government stopped the export from Nepal.If the government of Nepal does not take the initiative to open palm oil export after December 31, the industrialists have started saying that the industries operating in Sunsari Morang Industrial Corridor will be ruined. Nepal imports crude palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia.

In the last fiscal year alone, a total of Rs 15.35 billion worth of palm oil was exported from Nepal to India, according to the industrialists.