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Informist, Friday, Apr. 11, 2025

MUMBAI – India's vegetable oil imports fell 16% on year in March to 998,344 tonnes, data released Friday by the Solvent Extractors' Association of India showed. The imports consisted of 970,602 tonnes of edible oils and 27,742 tonnes of non-edible oils, the association said. Edible oil imports also fell 16% on year in March.

Total vegetable oil imports during the first five months of edible oil year 2024-25 (Nov-Oct) were 5.81 million tonnes, marginally down 0.4% from 5.83 million tonnes in the same period last year, the association said in a release. India is the world's largest importer of edible oils, and its basket comprises crude and refined palm oils, crude soyoil, and sunflower oil.

Crude palm oil imports fell nearly 10% on year to 343,949 tonnes in March. Similarly, imports of refined, bleached, and deodorised palmolein fell 20% on year to 74,650 tonnes in March. Crude palm oil imports during Nov-Mar were down 34% from a year ago at 1.72 million tonnes, while refined, bleached, and deodorised palmolein imports in the same period were down nearly 25% at 662,890 tonnes.

With the ongoing US and China trade war, palm oil prices may be affected and import tariffs may raise the cost of palm oil for the US end-users, the association said in the release. "The tariff-induced price increase is likely to drive the US food manufacturers and consumers to substitute palm oil with more competitively priced domestic alternatives, such as soyoil--benefitting US soybean farmers," it said.

Crude sunflower oil imports fell to 190,645 tonnes in March from 445,723 tonnes a year ago, the association said. Crude sunflower oil imports during Nov-Mar rose to 1.31 million tonnes from 1.35 million tonnes same period last year. Soft oil imports consisting of soyoil, sunflower, mustard, and others rose to 3.22 million tonnes during Nov-Mar from 2.2 million tonnes in the same period a year ago.

Meanwhile, crude soyoil imports during March increased to 355,358 tonnes from 218,604 tonnes a year ago. Crude soyoil imports during Nov-Mar rose to 1.91 million tonnes from 882,943 tonnes same period last year.

During Nov-Mar, India imported palm oil and refined, bleached, and deodorised palmolein from Indonesia and Malaysia, and soyoil from Argentina, Brazil and Russia. Sunflower oil was imported from Russia, Ukraine, and Argentina. 

Indonesia and Malaysia are the biggest suppliers of refined, bleached, and deodorised palmolein and crude palm oil to India. During Nov-Mar, India imported from Indonesia 861,362 tonnes of crude palm oil and 570,981 tonnes of refined, bleached, and deodorised palmolein. Crude palm oil imports from Malaysia in Nov-Mar were 731,870 tonnes and refined, bleached, and deodorised palmolein were at 82,102 tonnes.

In the case of crude soyoil, during Nov-Mar, India imported from Argentina 1.22 million tonnes, 327,936 tonnes from Brazil and 162,347 tonnes from Russia. Crude sunflower imports were 829,858 tonnes from Russia, 296,590 tonnes from Ukraine and 83,750 tonnes from Argentina during Nov-Mar in India.

The following table details import figures of edible oils in March, in tonnes, compared with year-ago levels with the change in percentage, according to data from the SEA:

End

Reported by Anjali Lavania

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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