16/11/2013 (Bernama) - India's import of both edible and non-edible vegetable oils during oil year 2012-13 (Nov 2012 to Oct 2013) jumped 4.77 per cent to a record level of 10.68 million tonnes compared with 10.19 million tonnes in the same period previously.

Out of the total imports, edible oil imports for the year amounted to 10.38 million tonnes compared with 9.98 million tonnes in the same period previously, while non-edible oil totalled 293,534 tonnes against 211,098 tonnes before.

"Import of edible oil has nearly doubled in six years due to stagnant oilseed production and rising demand, while refined bleached and deodorised (RBD) palmolein tripled in the last six years," said The Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA).

During October 2013, total import however slipped by 1.36 per cent to 1,021,973 tonnes compared with 1,036,107 tonnes in the same month in 2012.

"Due to inverted export duty structure by Indonesia and Malaysia, import of RBD palmolein substantially increased during the year," the association said in a statement here today.

Import of refined palmolein during April to October 2013 jumped to over 1.6 million tonnes from 750,000 tonnes during the same period a year ago.

The increase in import of vegetable oils was also because the overall production of vegetable oils was stagnant at 8.09 million tonnes compared with 8.15 million tonnes in the previous year.

Local consumption of edible oils further increased due to a three per cent increase in per capita consumption and 1.76 per cent rise in population growth, it said.

The closing stock of imported vegetable oils as at Oct 31, 2013 decreased to 1.4 million tonnes from 1.57 million tonnes as at Oct 31, 2012, it said.