More than 2-fold hike in cashew import duty

NEW DELHI, APRIL 30: 

To protect the domestic industry from cheaper cashew imports, mainly from Vietnam, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has more than doubled the import duty. However, there will be no change in duty on the import of raw cashew, which are imported, processed and exported.

In his reply on the Finance Bill, Chidambaram said, “We are taking a tariff cushion to raise the import duty from 30 per cent to 70 per cent so that, if necessary, we can impose a higher duty on imported cashew.”

Domestic producers have been suffering from cheaper imports from Vietnam, which are being dumped at a price of Rs 60-200/kg for the broken varieties against domestic prices of over Rs 350 a kg. It is estimated that nearly 5,000-6,000 tonnes of broken cashew is being dumped by Vietnam alone.

Source: Business Line