India says growing vegetable oil imports a concern
BOMBAY, Nov 25 (Reuters) - India said on Sunday that growing import levelsof edible oils in the country, the world's largest buyer, was a matter ofconcern and needs to be corrected."The current import levels are ringing alarm bells," federal Food MinisterShanta Kumar told an oilseeds convention.India's foreign dependence on imported vegetable oils has currently risento about 40 percent from just three percent in 1992/93.The country imported a record 4.8 million tonnes of edible oils in theyear to October 2001, up from 4.49 million the previous year, according tothe industry estimates.Annual demand for edible oil in India is forecast to rise to 13-14 milliontonnes by 2004/05 (November-October), from about 11 million tonnes now.Annual oilseeds output has remained virtually stagnant in the last decde,despite several government initiatives. India produced 18.21 milliontonnes of oilseeds in 2000/01 compared with 18.61 million a decade ago."We have tried to correct it (the situation) by raising import duties fourtimes in the last two years but it did not solve the problem," Kumar said.There was a need to induce farmers to shift to cultivation of oilseedsfrom foodgrains, he said and added that the government was consideringincentives to boost oilseeds output.The government was also committed to provide an efficient marketing systemfor their produce, he added."We are surplus in grains production but fail to produce enough oilseeds,"Kumar said.India will have unprecedented grains stocks of about 75.5 million tonnesbefore wheat procurement will begin in April. As on October 1, India hadtotal grains stocks of 58.28 million tonnes against the buffer stockrequirement of 18.10 million tonnes.