"We have told the Commerce Ministry that allowing split soyabean seed imports under advance (import) licence is no longer applicable as government has decided to allow import of oilseeds under OGL (open general licence)," said Ravi Prakash Sinha, secretary, sugar and edible oil in the food ministry.

Last month, the Union Cabinet cleared a proposal to allow import of oilseeds like sunflower and split soyabean under OGL as part of government's effort to improve edible oil supply in the country and rein in the rising prices of the commodity.

Under OGL, an exporter can import unrestricted quantity of any goods paying the normal customs duty, whereas under advance licence, import of a particular item is made against export of its value-added form. Quantity of imports under advance licence is also restricted.

Director General of Foreign Trade N NLakhanpal, when contacted, said the move to allow import of split soyabean under advance license had been shelved.

Earlier this year, the government had planned to allow import of one million tonnes of soyabean seed under advance licence but its notification was delayed in settling various issues, including whether soyabean should be imported in split form or split after arrival at ports.

The notification was also delayed due to consultations between commerce, agriculture and food ministries. Lakhanpal said notification on allowing oilseed imports under OGL would be issues "shortly".

The commerce ministry had recommended allowing import of oilseeds as already there were no curbs on its exports. Sinha said for now, government planned to allow only import of sunflower seeds and split soyabean seeds.

While sunflower seed imports would be subject to quarantine conditions specified by the agriculture ministry, soyabean seeds would have to be split on arrival at ports. There were, however, no plans to allowimport of rice bran, another oil-bearing material, Sinha said.

Edible oil prices have risen sharply since the beginning of the year on shortfall in oilseed production. This has led t a 63 lakh tonnes edible oil production this season (November 1997-October 1998) against a demand of 78 lakh tonnes.

The rest is expected to be met through imports, mainly palmolein. But its global price have risen sharply on export regulations imposed by Indonesia, a major global supplier.