11 January, 2002 (Oil World) - Vegetable oil imports are rising sharplythis season as a consequence of a pronounced decline in domesticproduction, mainly of sun oil. Combined imports of soybean oil and sun oilare seen reaching about 425 Thd T this season, an increase of 160 Thd T or60% from a year ago. We expect that soybean oil will cover the bulk ofthis increase whereas lack of sufficient availabilities and the stillunusually large price premiums of sun oil will probably limit imports to150-160 Thd T this season. Sun oil imports were up sharply from a year agoat an estimated 58 Thd T in Oct/Dec 2001. Due to the lowered tariffbarrier and the high preference for sun oil on the domestic market, Turkeybecame the world's largest sun oil importer recently. This furthertightened the available supplies for other traditional importers such asIndia, Egypt and Algeria. Based on preliminary export information ,soybean oil imports were boosted to around 90 Thd T last quarter, of which57 Thd T from the U.S. and the remainder from Argentina.