Indian Import of Vegetable Oils Down in May

Data compiled by the Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) of India showed the country’s import of vegetable oils (edible and non-edible) for the month of May totaled 1,061,416 MT, a reduction by 15% from 1,249,648 MT in the same month last year.  However, cumulative import during the first seven months of the current oil year 2021/2022, November ‘21 to May ’22, slightly rose by 1% to 7,768,990 MT from 7,677,998 MT at the same time last year.

During the seven-month period, import of RBD palm olein leaped sharply to 1,021,677 MT from merely 26,176 MT in prior year mainly due to high export duty on crude palm oil at USD575 and lower duty on RBD palm olein at USD408 favored Indonesian exporters to discount RBD palm olein to push RBD palm olein export, said SEA.  Indonesia and Malaysia remained the major sources of palm oil to India whereby during the period, Indonesia supplied 1,265,722 MT and Malaysia 2,021,770 MT; Thailand delivered 374,721 MT.

Soft oils imported were mainly crude soybean oil and crude sunflower oil.  Argentina was top supplier of crude soybean oil at 1,621,662 MT, followed by Brazil at 621,216 MT, USA 159,815 MT, Russia 39,510 MT, Ukraine 13,000 MT, and Others 124,795 MT.  On the other hand, leading source of crude sunflower oil was Ukraine at 842,956 MT, trailed by Russia at 251,905 MT, Argentina 120,956 MT, Brazil 980 MT and Others 11,972 MT.