New Delhi, Jan 19 (PTI) Assocham Sunday asked Government to reduce importduty for crude palm oil to 25 per cent from the current 65 per cent ashigh duty for a product used as a raw material was an anomaly which neededto be corrected."The duty provision of 65 per cent on raw material used by the vansapatiindustry against 30 per cent for the finished imported product was ananomaly and needs to be rationalised," Associated Chamber of Commerce andIndustry (Assocham) said in a statement here.Pointing the customs duty had drastically reduced the industry's capacityof competing with the cheap vanaspati coming from Nepal, it noted domesticindustry had to absorb higher customs duty of 65 per cent while theNepalese manufacturers did not have to pay any duty for the same oil,giving them a cost advantage of Rs 10,000 per tonne.The chamber said Government should also restrict the import of crude palmoil to vanaspati industry against actual user provision to check anymalpractice and asked it to withdraw the permission given to refiners andtraders as they were not equipped to hygienically process and hydrogenateit.Describing the increase in import duty of crude palm oil as a retrogradestep, the Chamber said the annual growth rate of the industry was notkeeping pace with the rise in demand due to increase in population andhigher disposable income with the consumers.