NEW DELHI: Consumers would now have to pay less for edible oils as the government has reduced basic import duty on refined soyabean oil and refined sunflower oil by 5 per cent, which is effective from Thursday.

Basic import duty on refined soyabean oil and refined sunflower Oil reduced from 17.5 per cent to 12.5 per cent.

The move will augment earlier measures taken by the government to reduce the prices of edible oils in the domestic market.

The basic import duty is an important factor which impacts the landed cost of edible oils which in turn affects the domestic prices.

Reduction in import duty on refined sunflower oil and refined soyabean oil will benefit the consumers, as it will help in easing the domestic retail prices.

The import duties on refined soyabean oil and refined sunflower oil were last reduced from 32.5 per cent to 17.5 per cent in October, 2021.

This was done as during the year 2021, the international prices were very high, which was getting reflected in the domestic prices as well, official sources said.