08/10/2007 (Commodity Online), MUMBAI - India’s largest commodity bourse, the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), is planning to launch crude palm oil futures soon.

Arindam Saha, vice-president for business development at MCX said that the exchange has already applied for permission from the Forward Markets Commission. “We hope to get the necessary clearances to start trading in crude palm oil futures soon,” he said.

India imports roughly 2.5-3.5 million tons of palmoil and its variants a year. The domestic production is very meager at 0.5 lakh tons. India imposes 65% duty on crude oil and 75% (imposed in 2003-04 Union Budget) on RBD Palmoil. The import ratio is highly dependent on the duty imposed.

In addition to the customs duty, Government of India also imposes tariff value, on which the customs duty is calculated irrespective of the actual price at which the oil is imported.

In 2002-03 India imported 21.5 lakh tons of crude palmoil and 3.15 lakh tons of RBD Palmoil. However, in 2003-04 till July from November '03 India has imported 13.7 lakh tons of crude palmoil and 4.8 lakh tons of RBD Palmoil.

Kandla, Mumbai, Kakinada are the major ports for palmoil entry to India and the major trading points too.