More Stories

Informist, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025

 

By Taniva Singha Roy

 

MUMBAI – India is likely to have imported 1.12 million tonnes vegetable oil in November, down nearly 25% from a year ago, according to estimates by Sunvin Group accessed by Informist. Sequentially, too, vegetable oil imports were seen to have fallen by over 15% in November due to higher availability of domestic oilseeds. Sunvin Group is a broker and consultant in the edible oils and oilseeds industry.

 

In October, the country had imported 1.3 million tonnes edible oil, with total vegetable oil imports at 1.33 million tonnes, according to data from The Solvent Extractors' Association of India. In the oil year 2024-25 (Nov-Oct), total vegetable oil imports were at 16.4 million tonnes, a tad up from 16.2 million tonnes a year ago, the association said.

 

"India's palm oil imports are estimated to have fallen nearly 26% on year to 624,449 tonnes, as palm oil in the beginning of this year was costlier than soyoil, which is an alternative for the former," Sunvin Group Chief Executive Officer Sandeep Bajoria said. However, on a monthly basis, imports rose over 4% on month as demand increased when prices of competing oils were higher, according to traders. Of the total palm oil imports in November, crude palm oil imports are estimated at 591,722 tonnes and crude palm kernel oil is seen at 1,850 tonnes.

 

India's import of soft oils in November is seen at 499,290 tonnes, much lower than 749,000 tonnes last year, according to the data. Soft oils include soyoil, canola oil and sunflower oil. Prices of soyoil and sunflower oil are much higher than palm oil, hence, imports of the latter were higher in November. Sunflower crop in Russia and Ukraine is going to be lower this time, which supported sunflower oil prices, said Rahul Chauhan, director of IGrain India Pvt. Ltd. "Palm oil currently is at INR 1,139 per 10 kg, which is $100 cheaper than soyoil and $200 cheaper than sunflower oil," Chauhan said.

 

Import of crude soyoil in November is estimated at 332,270 tonnes, down from 408,000 tonnes last year. "Soyoil has been the best performer this year in terms of imports until October," Bajoria said. However, as prices of soyoil increased, people shifted to importing more palm oil. Sunflower oil imports in October are estimated to have decreased to 162,020 tonnes from 341,000 tonnes a year ago. 

 

The Solvent Extractors' Association will publish official figures of India's edible oil imports for November sometime in the second week of December.  End

 

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.