India opens the door to olive oil

New Delhi, April 4, 2008. - The healthy virtues of olive oil have convinced the Indian authorities to reduce tariffs to 7.5 percent, but the challenge remains to present the product to consumers in the Asian country.
"In India there is a tendency to place high tariffs on luxury goods in question, such as olive oil. But while oil is very healthy, so we discussed it specifically, "he told Efe the vice president of the Planning Commission (PC), Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
So far, the virgin olive oil was taxed with a tariff of 45 percent, while the tax on refined olive oil and lotion was 40 percent, well above other types of oil.
"Previously, the consumption of olive oil was ignored and, because of taxes, was restricted to the elite, because the average consumer it was too expensive," he said after learning of the decision the president of India Association of Olive (OIA , initials in English), VN Dalmia.
With tariffs in place until now, a liter of olive oil could cost in the Indian capital around 720 rupees (11.48 euros), although the OIA now expects those prices to decline by around 15 percent.
This association, which represents importers and distributors in the industry, had repeatedly asked the Government the removal of tariffs with the dual argument that is a food "healthy" and that there are no Indian producers.
"It's the most healthy cooking world, with unmatched protection against cardiovascular disease," said Dalmia, in a country where fifty million people have heart problems.
But apart from lower prices and their virtues on paper, the new challenge faced by importers is to introduce olive oil among the middle classes, since the product was hitherto the preserve of the wealthy.
"The main problem is not taxes, but people still do not see the benefits of consuming it," said Sudhir Nayar Efe, the representative in India of the Italian oil company Bertolli.
Indian consumers limit the use of olive oil salad dressing and as a cosmetic for skin care, but have yet to pan out of the other varieties more typical, such as hydrogenated palm oil ("vanaspati") bad for cholesterol.
"It made ​​sense to reduce tariffs less healthy oils and not the tax on oil. Because normal people could consume only lower quality oils, while olive oil was in the hands of rich people, "the vice president assumed the Planning Commission.
With the decision to lower tariffs, India has moved ahead of other Asian countries like China, which applies a tariff of 10 percent, and Taiwan and South Korea, which imports taxed at 8 percent.
In addition, the coveted 7.5 percent even give wings to a market that is growing rapidly: in 2007, India imported 23,000 tons of olive oil, and in 2012 is expected to increase by 80 percent to reach 42,000 tons.
That perspective is what has led to the Spanish company Sojivit to enter the Indian market with all the consequences: growing organic oil in the Indian region of Himachal Pradesh (north) and start marketing it in 2012.
Although the climatic conditions of India make it difficult to produce a quality olive oil from Sojivit claim to have satisfactory evidence and a reminder that the British and olive trees planted when the country was a British colony.
And the idea is welcomed by the authorities.
"With globalization, people are starting to love things like that. So here we should also be capable of producing olive oil, whenever we find the place where they can grow olives, "he said Montek Singh Ahliwalia.

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