ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: The Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturer's Association (PVMA) has proposed to the government to raise the customs duty on import of crude palm oil (CPO) to provide a level-playing field to the local manufacturers.

The PVMA in a statement issued here on Tuesday urged the government to raise the customs duty on CPO at least to the level of RBD palm oil - Rs10,800 per ton - to encourage local growers of edible oils, use of soft oils and save the government revenue.

The association blamed that due to this advantage the government provided to the importers of crude palm oil, four multinational companies had started installation of their CPO refineries in Pakistan.

The total annual capacity of these new refineries alone would be around 1.278 million tons, which the PVMA believed almost close to the total annual demand of vegetable ghee/cooking oil in the country.

The PVMA said the government would lose an annual revenue of Rs2.3 billion due to these refineries, as the former would be sacrificing Rs1,800 per ton by the virtue of import of crude palm oil instead of RBD palm oil.

It further said that the present policy was allowing crude palm oil at substantial lower customs duty viz-a-viz RBD palm oil, hence encouraging the growers of Malaysia and Indonesia and discouraging the domestic growers of oilseeds.