30/08/2007 (Commodity Online), MUMBAI - India is expected to import 5-6 lakh tonnes of various vegetable oils every month during the August-October period, which will take the total import for 2006-07 (November-October) to 4.8 million tonnes, compared to 4.4 million tonnes last year.

Addressing a conference of Malaysian Palm Oil Board at Kuala Lumpur, B V Mehta, executive secretary of Solvent Extractor’s Association of India, said between November 2006 and July 2007, India imported 3.30 million tonnes (mt) of edible oils consisting of 2.23 mt of palm products and 1.07 mt of soft oils, an increase of eight per cent from the same period last year.

During the current year the import ratio has tilted in favour of palm oil products, whose share has increased to 68 per cent, from 58 per cent in 2005-06. Soft oils, mainly soyabean oil, accounted for the rest.

Looking at long-term trends, he said India would continue to be large importer of vegetable oil for quite some time – at least 10 years.