India: Edible oil imports surge 35% in Aug as share of Russia, Argentina rises
15 September 2022- India’s import of edible oil grew 35.29 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to 1.3 million tonnes (MT) in August against 1.01 MT in the same month last year. India imported 1.2 MT of edible oil in July this year, reported The Hindu BusinessLine.
Registering a growth of 6.58 per cent, India imported 11 million tonnes of edible oil in the first ten months of the oil year 2021-22 (November to October) against 10.3 MT in same period a year, according to data by the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA).
The import of RBD palmolein witnessed a jump of 483.63 per cent during the first 10 months of the oil year 2021-22 as India imported 1.3 MT of RBD palmolein, BV Mehta, Executive Director of SEA, said, reported Business Line.
India’s imports in the corresponding period a year ago stood at 230,000 tonnes.
The growth was contributed by the high export levy on crude palm oil (CPO) and lower duty on RBD palmolein by Indonesia, Mehta said, reported BusinessLine.
RBD palmolein now constitute 12 per cent of total imports of edible oils against 2 per cent last year.
This resulted in the decline of 26.21 per cent in the import of CPO to 4.4 MT during the first 10 months of the oil year 2021-22 against 6.02 MT a year ago.
While the share of palm oil, including CPO, and RBD palmolein in the overall import of edible oil has declined in the first 10 months of the year, the contribution of soft oil has increased.
The import of edible oil has also increased as Russia and Argentina have emerged as significant sunflower oil exporters to India. India bought about 135,000 tonnes of sunflower oil in August, of which 72,780 tonnes were from Russia and 30,600 tonnes from Argentina, the report stated.
During the November-August period of the oil year 2021-22, India imported 1.6 MT of sunflower oil against 1.5 MT in the same period a year ago. Of this, Ukraine exported 842,000 tonnes this year (against 1.2 MT last year), Russia 425,000 tonnes (vs 162,000 tonnes) and Argentina 302,000 tonnes against (149,000 tonnes).
During the same period this year, India imported 2.5 MT of CPO and 401,000 tonnes of RBD palmolein from Malaysia, and 1.2 MT of CPO and 924,000 of RBD palmolein from Indonesia.
India’s overall import of vegetable oils, including edible and non-edible oil, rose 6.24 per cent to 11.3 MT during November-August of the oil year 2021-22 as against 10.7 MT last year.
Source: Business Standard