Farmers’ federation calls for imposing duty on starch imports

With falling prices of tapioca worrying farmers, Federation of Tamil Nadu Agriculturists’ Associations has urged the Central government to impose duty for import of starch. In a release, its secretary C. Nallasamy said that the government had allowed import of starch at zero duty from Vietnam and a few other countries whereas 20% import duty is levied on imports from Thailand. Hence, starch from Thailand is exported to Sri Lanka and again imported to the country at zero duty. He said that the price of tapioca that was ₹ 10,000 a tonne two years ago dropped to ₹ 5,500 a tonne now affecting the livelihood of farmers. “The main reason for the drop in price is due to absence of import duty for starch while adulteration is the other reason”, he added.