Oil blowing of bitumen not manufacture, as processing only raises softening point without creating a new commodity.

Oil blowing of petroleum bitumen was held not to amount to manufacture because the process merely increased the softening point and did not create a new and distinct commodity. Mere chemical change during processing was insufficient to establish emergence of a different product, and the later coordinate Bench view and Board circular supported that approach. As the blown bitumen was not a manufactured product on these facts, duty was not leviable on it on that basis.

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Issues: Whether oil blowing of petroleum bitumen amounts to manufacture and whether duty is leviable on blown bitumen when the original bitumen had already suffered duty.

Analysis: The Tribunal followed later coordinate Bench decisions which held that air blowing only increases the softening point of bitumen and does not bring into existence a product so different from the original material as to constitute manufacture. Mere chemical change in the course of processing was held insufficient to establish emergence of a new commodity. The Tribunal also noted the relevance of the Board circular and the technical material relied upon in the later decisions.

Conclusion: The process of oil blowing of bitumen did not amount to manufacture, and no duty was leviable on the blown bitumen on that basis.

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