Arjun Indo Agro Oils to open a 50,000 tonnes capacity refinery in Angre Port

Arjun Indo Agro Oils Ltd, the edible-oil building subsidiary of Kolhapur-based mostly Arjun Refineries, will open up an edible oil refining and packaging facility at Angre port in Jaigad found in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district. It options to tap into a probable thrown up by the the latest Central governing administration ban on import of refined palm oil, focusing on major suppliers Indonesia and Malaysia.

Arjun Indo Agro Oils will lease five acres of industrial backup land from the Chowue Group-promoted Angre Port Pvt Ltd, which runs the Angre port, for thirty years to build the refinery and packaging unit with an investment of ₹30 crore, Santosh Vasant Shinde, the founder and proprietor of Arjun Indo Agro Oils told BusinessLine.

The facility will have a capability of 50,000 tonnes for each yr and would be ramped up to 100,000 tonnes in Period Two. It will also develop refined soya bean oil and sunflower oil.

India is the world’s major importer of edible oil and palm oil accounts for practically two-thirds of the whole imports, mainly acquired from Malaysia and Indonesia.

The governing administration banned the import of refined palm oil from January eight pursuing powerful lobbying by neighborhood edible oil refiners this sort of as Liberty, Ruchi, Allana and Adani Wilmar.

They argued that the huge charge differential concerning refined palm oil and crude palm oil imports forced many refiners out of organization because of to losses as refined palm oil was accessible in the market place at a lesser price to the people.

This was the most important rationale why Ruchi Soya went out of the market place (and in the end was acquired by Patanjali underneath the IBC). In Chennai and Kandla, many more compact edible oil refineries shuttered for the reason that of this.

In January, the governing administration decided that as a substitute of refined oil, India will import crude palm oil.

The restriction positioned on refined palm oil imports in January along with the earlier 45 for each cent tax on this sort of imports led importers to resource the commodity without paying out import obligation through neighbours Nepal and Bangladesh with which India has signed the South Asian Totally free Trade Agreement (SAFTA).

The refined palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia were being initially sent to Nepal and Bangladesh and from there to India, taking edge of the free of charge trade settlement.

But, earlier this week, this loophole for obligation-free of charge imports was plugged with the director-common of international trade (DGFT) suspending 39 permits supplied to import refined palm oil following looking at a massive jump in imports through Nepal and Bangladesh, which are not massive producers.

“Two times back, the governing administration banned his also, so that refined palm oil is not imported through Nepal and Bangladesh. Now, there is no selection but to carry crude palm oil only,” Shinde claimed.

“If that is refined below, then our refineries will run, and neighborhood persons will get work. Due to the fact of this, refineries will earn revenue, and the nation will reward. It is a incredibly good determination of the governing administration,” Shinde claimed.

“The initially port-based mostly oil refinery in the Konkan region is a get-get design for the two parties, as it generates earnings and cargo for the port even though delivering logistics guidance and charge handle for Arjun Indo Agro Oils,” claimed Eshaan Lazarus, Government Director, Angré Port Private Constrained.

The strategic leasing design will save land, and lower start off-up expenditures. Getting a port based mostly refinery drastically slash logistics expenditures for Arjun Indo Agro Oils, keeping away from the initially leg of transportation from the port to a hinterland refinery altogether, and also presents the corporation access to new markets in Maharashtra, North Karnataka, and Goa.

Angré Port will guidance Arjun Indo Agro Oils in the import of raw supplies, and the clearance and storage of cargo through a tank terminal which will have dedicated pipelines to the refinery.

The port, Lazarus claimed, owns three hundred acres of industrial land as non-public backup land. It presents this land on aggressive lease types to strategic companies this sort of as mega warehouses, port-based mostly industries, logistics, tank terminals, and organization parks.