16/11/2005  NEW DELHI (Reuters): Edible oil imports by India, the world's largest buyer, rose to 5.04 million tonnes in the year to October from 4.4 million tonnes in the previous year, a leading industry organisation said Wednesday.
Imports of crude palm oil increased to 2.36 million tonnes from 2.06 million last year, while crude soyoil shipments to the country rose to about 2.0 million tonnes from 890,695 tonnes, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India said in a statement.
The share of soyoil into India has been steadily increasing because of lower prices and a duty differential.
India imposes an 80 per cent import duty on crude palm oil and its fractions and 90 per cent on other palm oils, including refined, bleached and deodorised palm olein and RBD palm oil.
But crude soybean oil attracts only a 45 per cent customs duty because of World Trade Organisation (WTO) regulations.
The solvent extractors' association said imports of RBD palmolein during the oil year fell to 422,735 tonnes from 796,846 tonnes. But shipments of refined soybeanoil increased to 25,003 tonnes from 15,324 tonnes.
The country of more than one billion people imports around half its annual edible oil needs of 11 million tonnes. It buys palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia and soyoil from Brazil and Argentina.
India's winter oilseed output is expected to rise to 13.37 million tonnes from 12.36 million tonnes a year ago, a leading trade body said Sunday.
Production of soybean, the season's main oilseed crop, was expected to be 6.16 million tonnes compared with 5.85 million tonnes last winter, said the Central Organisation for Oil Industry and Trade.
Groundnut output during the season is seen at 5.1 million tonnes compared with the previous year's 4.45 million tonnes, it said.