New Delhi, Apr 5 (KNN) The government has allowed import of feed grade maize at a concessional import duty of 15% in order to meet the shortage of poultry feed in India.

According to the notification by Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) the shortage occurs mainly because of drought, pest attack and significant reduction in cultivable areas as in Bihar.

DGFT through a notice said that “Keeping in view the necessity, the feed grade maize is proposed to be imported under the tariff rate quota (TRQ)” with certain relaxations and conditions.  

It told that applications are requested from state trading enterprises for the import of feed-grade maize or corn under the tariff rate quota scheme at 15 % customs duty & meant only for actual users.

It further added that the import for trading purpose is not permitted.

DGFT has also allowed import of 1 lakh MT of feed grade maize under TRQ.

It said as maize is classified under the same trade nomenclature, in which basic customs duty is 60%, the import of feed grade maize becomes cost-prohibitive.

It added that “Import under tariff rate quota (5 lakh tonne) is provisionally under suspension because of an order by High Court of Hyderabad vide its order dated 31 Dec 2014“.

The poultry sector has asked to separately categorize feed grade maize from the pop-corn grade maize & allow its import under the TRQ.

A tariff-rate quota (TRQ) is a two-tiered international trade tariff that combines two policy instruments used historically to protect domestic production by restricting imports−Import quotas and tariffs.

The quotas set a quantitative threshold for a designated time period for imports of a protected domestic product. Under that threshold, tariffs applied to imports are either very low or nonexistent. (KNN/JM)