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Informist, Wednesday, May 14, 2025

MUMBAI – India's vegetable oil imports declined 32% on year in April to 891,558 tonnes due to fall in imports of palm oil, sunflower oil, and soyoil, data released Wednesday by the Solvent Extractors' Association of India showed. The imports comprised 862,558 tonnes of edible oils and 29,000 tonnes of non-edible oils, the association said. Edible oil imports fell 34% on year in April and were the lowest since May 2020.

Total vegetable oil imports during the first six months of edible oil year 2024-25 (Nov-Apr) were 6.69 million tonnes, down 6% from 7.15 million tonnes in the same period last year, the association said in a release. Imports of crude palm oil and sunflower oil declined while imports of soyoil rose during the six months, it said. 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 55% on year to 241,461 tonnes in April. Similarly, imports of refined, bleached, and deodorised palmolein fell 39% on year to 75,962 tonnes in April. Crude palm oil imports during Nov-Apr were down 37% from a year ago at 1.97 million tonnes, while refined, bleached, and deodorised palmolein imports in the same period were down nearly 27% at 738,852 tonnes. 

Imports from Nepal are proving a big threat to the domestic oil industry. During Oct. 15-Apr. 15, Nepal exported about 350,000 tonnes of refined edible oil to India under South Asian Free Trade Area or SAFTA agreement at nil duty. "This has now assumed alarming proportion and is not only threating the very survival of domestic vegetable oil refining industry in Eastern and Northern India but also resulting in huge revenue loss to the country," the association said in the release. The association has raised this issue with Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, hoping that some action will be taken to check the excessive imports from Nepal, the release said. 

Crude sunflower oil imports fell to 180,128 tonnes in April from 234,801 tonnes a year ago, the association said. Similarly, crude sunflower oil imports in Nov-Apr fell to 1.49 million tonnes from 1.59 million tonnes same period last year. Soft oil imports consisting of soyoil, sunflower, mustard, and others rose to 3.76 million tonnes during Nov-Apr from 2.85 million tonnes in the same period a year ago.

Crude soyoil imports during April fell to 360,984 tonnes from 385,514 tonnes a year ago. However, crude soyoil imports during Nov-Apr rose to 2.27 million tonnes from 1.27 million tonnes same period last year.

During Nov-Apr, 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-Apr, India imported from Indonesia 933,370 tonnes of crude palm oil and 633,943 tonnes of refined, bleached, and deodorised palmolein. Crude palm oil imports from Malaysia in Nov-Apr were 836,602 tonnes and refined, bleached, and deodorised palmolein were at 92,102 tonnes.

In the case of crude soyoil, during Nov-Apr, India imported from Argentina 1.39 million tonnes, 478,794 tonnes from Brazil and 162,347 tonnes from Russia. Crude sunflower oil imports from Russia during Nov-Apr were 926,511 tonnes, from Ukraine 355,165 tonnes, and from Argentina 108,650 tonnes.

As on May 1, total edible oil stocks were at 1.35 million tonnes, including 700,000 tonnes at ports and 651,000 in the pipeline. Last year, total edible oil stocks were 2.32 million tonnes, including 603,000 tonnes at ports and 1.72 million tonnes in the pipeline, according to data released by the SEA.

The following table details edible oil imports in April, 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 Ashish Shirke

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