28/12/2007 (The Economic Times), Kalkata - To protect the interest of coconut growers in Kerala, the Centre has banned palm oil product imports through any ports of the state. The government ban came through a notification dated December 24, 2007, issued by the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT), under the Union commerce ministry.

This is the revised order of the DGFT on the ban issue. Earlier on October 16, it had issued a notification, banning import of palm oil products through Cochin port alone. Now with the modified order, no vessel carrying imported palm oil products is permitted to unload its cargo at any ports in Kerala.

With this revised order, the Centre moves one step ahead of the Kerala High Court to perhaps appease the coconut lobby of the state. Responding to the plea of coconut farmers and the processing industry, saying that imported palm oils are pushing down coconut oil prices, the Kerala High Court on December 20 had passed an order, banning unloading of imported palm oils at Cochin port only.

While pleading for a total ban on the import of palm oils into Kerala, coconut growers and the oil processing industry of the state have argued that the import has dented the share of the coconut oil market. This, as a result, has put pressure on coconut oil prices to their disadvantage.

But the edible oil industry in general does not see merit in the observation. An industry official said hardly 75,000 tonnes of palm oils used to be imported through the Cochin port, which alone cannot be held responsible for any dent in the coconut oil market of the state. If there had been any shrinkage in that oil market, that may have been caused due to shift in local consumers preference to other cooking oils, said the official.

Interestingly, no sharp downtrend in coconut oil prices has been noticed over the past eight months or so. The oil price which stood at Rs 4,563 per quintal in April, gradually moved up to Rs 4,788 in November and to Rs 5,125 per quintal in the last week of December at terminal markets in Kochi.