Indian trade officials will travel to Sri Lanka to discuss Vanaspathi oil
Colombo Page, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka: Indian trade officials will travel to Sri Lanka to discuss Vanaspathi oil
ColomboPage News Desk
11 September 2006
Sept 11, Colombo: A high level team of Indian trade officials will arrive in Sri Lanka next week to finalise the quotas for cooking oil and bakery shortening exported from Sri Lanka to India, says the Secretary to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Trade, R.M.K. Rathnayaka.
These Indian officials will discuss the relevant issues with their counterparts in Sri Lanka on 18-19 September.
India has allocated to Sri Lanka a 250,000 metric tonne per annum quota of cooking oil and bakery shortening, popularly known as Vanaspathi oil, under the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
Sri Lanka’s Vanaspathi exports shot up suddenly from 80,000 MT in 2002 to 165,000 in 2005. Exports in the first half of 2006 were 103,000 MT. This put the local industries under immense competition. India’s total market for Vanaspathi is 1.4 million MT.
The government of India issued a special gazette notification in June ordering all Vanaspathi and bakery shortening imports under the India-Lanka FTA to be made by the National Agricultural Corporation Federation of India.
Vanaspathi accounts for 47 percent of total exports under the FTA and the total expected foreign exchange earnings for 2006 are US$ 200 million. Lo
