The consumer affairs secretary has written to the finance ministry opposing the farm ministry’s proposal to increase the import duty on edible oils. If import duty on edible oils is increased, market prices will go up and consumers will have to bear the brunt. Earlier, the market was rife with speculations that the govt may raise the import duty on edible oils as prices of oilseeds have been below the MSP for the last few months. The edible oil industry had also urged the government to increase the import duty on crude edible oil to 20% from the existing 7.5%, and on refined edible oils to 35% from 12.5%, as high imports were weighing on domestic prices. From November 2016 to May 2017, import of refined oil mainly refined, bleached and deodorised palmolein–rose to 1.66 mln tn from 1.59 mln tn a year ago.