27/09/2008 (Bloomberg) - India, the world's biggest buyer of vegetable oil after China, may levy a tax on imports in November to slow purchases of edible oils that have depressed the domestic price of cooking fat and oilseeds.

Edible oil imports rose 21 percent last month after palm oil in Malaysia, the global benchmark, dropped by about a half from a March peak of 4,486 ringgit ($1,305) a ton. Palm oil makes up 90 percent of India's total cooking fat purchases.

``If vegetable oil prices continue to fall the government will intervene and impose some duties after the festival season is over'' in November to protect farmers, Dinesh Shahra, managing director of Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd., India's biggest soybean processor, said in an interview in Mumbai.

Shahra was one of the speakers at a two-day conference on vegetable oils that began in Mumbai today.

The government scrapped the import duty on crude soybean and palm oils, and cut the levy on refined edible oils to 7.5 percent in March to cool food prices. Inflation eased from a 16-year high last month as three interest-rate increases by the central bank since early June and curbs on exports of wheat, rice and corn aimed at cooling food prices, took hold.

India buys palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, and soybean oil from Argentina and Brazil.