(Correction on para 2 &3 on earlier news. BERNAMA have been informed torectify the mistake. Thank you to Dr. Ariffin on the comments. )

New Delhi, Dec 8 (Bernama) -- The Indian Government has revised steeplytariff value on which import duty is levied on palm oil, taking intoaccount the international prices of the commodity.

Tariff value on which customs duty will be levied on crude palm oil hasbeen increased to US$314 per tonne c.i.f. (cost, insurance and freight)from US$286 per tonne c.i.f., reports PTI.

For refined, bleached and deodorised (RBD) palm oil it has been increasedto US$341 per tonne from US$295 per tonne, says the report carried in thefinancial daily, the Business Standard.

Palm oil duties are imposed on a fixed c.i.f. price to preventunderinvoicing by importers.

Another report in the daily says to check the huge imports of soyabeanoil, India will discuss the possibilities of increasing the WTO-boundrates on the commodity with Argentina.

If Argentina agress to the duty hike, India is likely to give concessionson imports of other products from Argentina.

The paper quotes official sources as saying that soyabean oil imports hadsurged since the government increased the customs duty on palmolean andcrude palm oil.

This had made necessary steps to curb its imports, they were quoted assaying.

Soya oil imports, the report says, had surged to 1.41 million tonnes in2000-2001 compared to 626,000 tonnes in the previous season(November-October).

--BERNAMA