Sri Lanka govt bans palm oil imports

Colombo: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has banned the import of palm oil with immediate effect and ordered local plantation companies to uproot 10 per cent of their trees and replace them with rubber trees or other environment-friendly crops, a move that could benefit the domestic coconut oil industry.

The cultivation of palm (katupol) oil, at the same time, will be completely banned, the Presidential Secretariat said in a statement on Monday. The Director-General of Customs has also been informed of this decision and advised to refrain from clearing palm oil cargos at the Department of Customs, it said.

The Controller General of the Department of Imports and Exports Control has been advised to issue the relevant gazette order to give effect to the order. About six months ago, the President had instructed to gradually ban the cultivation of palm oil in the country, the Presidential Secretariat said.

Companies and entities, which have done such cultivations, will be required to remove them on a phased-out manner with 10 per cent uprooting at a time and replacing it with the cultivation of rubber or environment-friendly crops each year "to free Sri Lanka from oil palm plantation and palm oil consumption", it said.