5/3/07 New Delhi, (PTI): The Government has kept unchanged the tariff values for imported edible oils in a bid to contain prices of cooking oil in the country.

The tariff order issued today by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has not touched the base price, which was last changed in July 2006.

Edible oils are the country's second largest import commodity after crude oil and play an important part in the overall price line.

After some efforts, the government had finally been able to bring down inflation to 6.05 per cent during the week ended February 17 against 6.63 per cent for the previous week while it was just 4.13 per cent in the year-ago period under review.

Tariff values of six palm group oils and crude soyabean oil have not been changed, an official release said.

Tariff values of palm oil and products, which accounted for majority of edible oil imports, has not been changed since August 15 even as tariff values are reviewed every fortnight.

Government fixes tariff value of imported oil to calculate customs duty to prevent any loss of revenue due to under invoicing by importers.

Nearly 40-50 per cent of domestic edible oil consumption of 11-12 million tonnes is met through imports, which stood at 44.17 lakh tonnes in 2005-06.

Current tariff value for crude soyabean oil is 580 dollars per tonne while that of crude palm oil is at 447 dollars per tonne.

The RBD palm oil tariff value stands at 476 dollars per tonne, palm oil (others) at 462 dollars, crude palmolein at 481 dollar, RBD palmolein at 484 dollars and palmolein (others) at 483 dollars.