Agriculture Ministryseeks import duty exemption on potato to boost supply

New Delhi:The Agriculture Ministry has demanded that potato be exempted from import duties to boost domestic supplies of the vegetable and curb rise in its prices.

Potato prices have shown a rising trend and the commodity is being retailed at Rs 35-40 per kg in the National Capital, against 20-25 a kg till recently.

The government had last week directed NAFED and the Small Farmers' Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC) to import potatoes to improve the domestic supply in the coming months. But the two organisations have raised concerns that import of potatoes will be unviable at high import duty of 30 percent.

"The issue has been taken up with the Commerce Ministry. We have suggested for complete exemption of import duty on potatoes to encourage shipments, said senior Agriculture Ministry official.

Both NAFED and SFAC are gearing up to float tenders to import potatoes during the lean period up to January-end, he said.

NAFED has decided to invite expression of interest from global suppliers for import of 25,000 tonnes of potatoes before issuing full-fledged tenders, he added.

In June, the government had imposed a minimum export price (MEP) of USD 450 per tonne on potatoes to increase domestic availability and cool prices.The stock of stored potatoes is getting exhausted and therefore the government has decided to import to boost availability till the new crop arrives from January-end.

India produced 44.3 million tonnes of potatoes in 2013-14 crop year, down 2.3 percent from the previous year.