New Delhi, April 16 -- Two top industry associations of edible-oil manufacturers have alleged that traders in Nepal are avoiding Indian tariffs and exporting more cooking oil than the country produces, implying that the commodities are first imported into Nepal from major producing countries such as Argentina and Brazil and then rerouted to India.

On September 14, 2024, India upped the basic customs duty on crude soybean oil, crude palm oil, and crude sunflower oil from 0% to 20%, taking the so-called effective duty on crude edible oils to 27.5%. The basic customs duty on refined palm oil, refined sunflower oil, and refined soybean oil was raised from 12.5% to 32.5%, taking the effective duty to 35.75%. These import taxes were raised to ...